Born in a Ukrainian village in 1920, Ivan Kozhedub was kept out of combat for two years because his instructors thought him too valuable to lose. He finally flew his first sortie on 26 March 1943. Flying Lavochkin La-5FNs and La-7s, Kozhedub amassed 62 confirmed victories across 330 sorties and 120 dogfights—making him the top-scoring Allied ace of the war. On 19 February 1945, he and his wingman Dmitry Titarenko encountered an Me 262 jet south of Frankfurt. Kozhedub closed from below, caught the jet as it slowed to turn, and shot it down—becoming the first Soviet pilot to destroy a German jet in combat. He received three Hero of the Soviet Union gold stars, a feat matched only by Aleksandr Pokryshkin.