Gagarin Air Force Academy is the name of a Russian military aviation academy located in Monino

Monino

Monino is an urban locality in Shchyolkovsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated east of Moscow. Population:...

 , Moscow Region

Moscow Oblast

Moscow Oblast , or Podmoskovye , is a federal subject of Russia . Its area, at , is relatively small compared to other federal subjects, but it is one of the most densely populated regions in the country and, with the 2010 population of 7,092,941, is the second most populous federal subject...

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Gagarin Air Force Academy is one of the leading military educational institutions preparing high ranking military personnel for the Russian Air Force

Russian Air Force

The Russian Air Force is the air force of Russian Military. It is currently under the command of Colonel General Aleksandr Zelin. The Russian Navy has its own air arm, the Russian Naval Aviation, which is the former Soviet Aviatsiya Voyenno Morskogo Flota , or AV-MF).The Air Force was formed from...

.

Among the academy alumni are around 700 Heroes of the Soviet Union

Hero of the Soviet Union

The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...

 (highest award in the USSR), more than 10 cosmonauts

Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation

Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation is a title that is presented to all cosmonauts who fly for the Russian Federal Space Agency. Usually accompanying the distinction is the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, the highest title that can be awarded to a Russian for performing heroic deeds...

, and over 2000 military specialists from 21 foreign countries.

The Academy provides regiment and division-level commanding officers to fill commanding, staff, navigation, logistics, communications and radar-support positions.

Alternative academy name in the English-language literature is Yuri Gagarin Military Air Academy. In conversational speech often referred to as Gagarin Academy or Monino Academy.

By late 2008, this academy and the N. Zhukovsky Aviation Engineering Academy both merged to become the Gagarin-Zhukovsky Military Combined Air Force Academy, but it still retains its Monino campus.

History

The academy was founded in 1940. It was named Air Force Academy in 1946. In 1968 it was named after Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....

 . In 2008, Gagarin Air Force Academy was amalgamated with the Zhukovsky Engineering Air Force Academy.

Leadership (Superintendent – commander and senior officer)

• 1940 – Zinovii M. Pomerntsev
• 1940 – Feodor K. Arzhenukhin
• 1941–1942 – Leonid I. Naryshkin
• 1942–1944 – Yakov S. Shkurin
• 1944–1946 – Petr P. Ionov
• 1946–1950 – Fedor Falaleyev
  Fedor Falaleyev
  Fedor Yakovlevich Falaleyev was a Soviet Marshal of the Air Force.-Early life:Falaleyev was born on 31 May 1899 in Polyanskaya, Udmurtia, in central Russia.-Military career:...
  
  
• 1950–1956 – Serafim A. Pestov
• 1956–1968 – Stepan Krasovsky
  Stepan Krasovsky
  Sczyapan Yakimavich Krasuisky Sczyapan Yakimavich Krasuisky Sczyapan Yakimavich Krasuisky (Belorussian: Сцяпан Якімавіч Красоўскі, Russified: Stepan Akimovich Krasovsky [Степан Акимович Красовский];...
  
  
• 1968–1973 – Sergei Rudenko
  Sergei Rudenko (general)
  Serhi Gnatovich Rudenko was a Soviet Marshal of the Aviation.-Early life:...
  
  
• 1973–1988 – Nikolai Skomorokhov 

Notable faculty

• Sergei Guliev – Doctor of Military Sciences, professor.
• Alexander Drozhjin – Doctor of Military Sciences, professor.
• Alexei Zaitsev  – professor, Major-General retired.
• Grigory Lavrik – Honored Scientist of Russia, Doctor of Military Sciences, professor.
• Georgy Molokanov – Honored Scientist of Russia, Doctor of Technical Sciences, professor.
• Valentin Rog – Doctor of Military Sciences, professor.
• Ivan Timokhovich
  Ivan Timokhovich
  Ivan Vasilievich Timokhovich was a Russian military historian, Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor, Honored Scientist of Russia, Associate Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Major General, Russian Air Force.A common alternative transliteration of his name is Timohovich...
  
    – Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor, Major-General of aviation.

Notable alumni

• Vladimir Alekseenko  – Hero of the Soviet Union
  Hero of the Soviet Union
  The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...
  
   awarded twice, Lieutenant-General.
• Vasilii Andrianov  – Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice, Major-General.
• Leonid Beda  – Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice, Honored Military Pilot of the USSR (1971), Lieutenant-General of aviation (1972).
• Georgy Beregovoy  – Pilot-Cosmonaut
  Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation
  Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation is a title that is presented to all cosmonauts who fly for the Russian Federal Space Agency. Usually accompanying the distinction is the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, the highest title that can be awarded to a Russian for performing heroic deeds...
  
   of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice.
• Michail Bondarenko  – Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice.
• Andrei Borovyh  – Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice, Colonel-General of aviation, Commander of the Aviation of the Air Defense Forces of the USSR (1969–1977).
• Alexander Efimov  – Commander in Chief Air Force and Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR (1984–1990); Marshal of Aviation
  Chief Marshal
  The ranks of Marshal of a branch and Chief Marshal of a branch were senior military ranks of the Soviet Armed Forces. Immediately above the rank "Marshal of a branch" is the rank "Chief Marshal of a branch". Both ranks are immediately above the rank "Colonel General" and equal to Soviet General...
  
   (1975), Honored Military Pilot of the USSR (1970), Doctor of Military Sciences, professor.
• Aleksei Gubarev
  Aleksei Gubarev
  Aleksei Aleksandrovich Gubarev was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on two space flights: Soyuz 17 and Soyuz 28.Gubarev graduated from the Soviet Naval Aviation School in 1952 and went on to serve with the Soviet Air Force...
  
    – Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice, Major-General.
• Sigmund Jähn
  Sigmund Jähn
  Sigmund Werner Paul Jähn is a German pilot who became the first German to fly in space as part of the Soviet Union's Interkosmos program.-Biography:Jähn was born in Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz, in the Vogtland district of Saxony, Germany...
  
   (1966–1970)
• Ivan Kozhedub  – World War 2 ace-pilot, shoot down highest number of enemy aircraft (64) among pilots of allied forces. Hero of the Soviet Union awarded three times. Marshal of Aviation (1985).
• Anatoly Nedbailo  – Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice, Deputy Superintendent of the Kiev Higher Air Force Engineering Academy (1968–1983), Major-General of aviation.
• Ivan Vorobiev  – Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice.
• Alexander Zelin – Commander in Chief, Russian Federation Air Force (2007), Colonel-General.