Amet-Khan Sultan (20 October 1920 – 1 February 1971) was an outstanding Soviet fighter pilot of Crimean Tatar origin and an aviation lieutenant colonel. For his military achievements, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union twice – in 1943 and 1945. He was one of the most successful aces of the Soviet Air Forces during the Second World War and the only Soviet pilot to test more than 50 types of aircraft (107 individual machines). He was born in the city of Alupka, Crimea, into a mixed family: his mother was a Crimean Tatar, while his father was of Lak origin from Dagestan. After graduating from the Kacha Higher Military Aviation School, he served in fighter aviation units of the Red Army from 1940 onward. During the Second World War, he completed more than 600 combat missions. In May 1944, during the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, he was on leave at home; due to his high military status, his family was exiled not to Uzbekistan but to Krasnodar Krai. Throughout his life, Amet-Khan wrote letters requesting the rehabilitation of his people and never renounced his Crimean Tatar identity. After the war, he faced difficulties in finding employment because of his nationality. Through the support of his wartime comrades, he continued his service as a test pilot at the M. M. Gromov Flight Research Institute in Zhukovsky, Russia, where he made significant contributions to the development of aviation technology and to the preparation of space programs. He died on 1 February 1971 during a test flight of a modified Tu-16 aircraft and was buried in Moscow, Russia.
The photo entered the Museum collection in 1980 from the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
The image is vertical and black-and-white. The photograph shows a waist-up portrait of a young man wearing the officer’s uniform of the USSR Air Force: a dress tunic with the shoulder boards of a major, decorated with two Gold Star medals of the Hero of the Soviet Union, two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of Alexander Nevsky, the Order of the Patriotic War, and the Order of the Red Star. He is not wearing a head covering, and his gaze is directed toward the camera lens.