Ilya Mazuruk, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Ilya Mazuruk

Soviet general

Date of Birth: 20-Jul-1906

Place of Birth: Brest, Brest Region, Belarus

Date of Death: 02-Jan-1989

Profession: politician

Zodiac Sign: Cancer

Ilya Pavlovich Mazuruk (Russian: ???? ???????? ???????; 20 July 1906 – 2 January 1989) was a pilot, polar explorer, and Hero of the Soviet Union. Mazuruk briefly served in the Soviet Air Force during the late 1920s and then became a Civil Air Fleet pilot.
After becoming a polar aviator, he commanded a modified Tupolev TB-3 during the North Pole-1 drifting ice station mission, the first such mission.
For his actions Mazuruk was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
He became head of the Glavsevmorput Polar Aviation Directorate.
After rejoining the Soviet Air Force, Mazuruk flew combat missions in the Winter War and World War II.
Between 1942 and 1944, he successively led the Krasnoyarsk Air Route and the 1st Ferry Aviation Division, both responsible for ferrying Allied Lend-Lease aircraft from Alaska to Siberia.
Mazuruk reached the rank of Major General after the end of the war and continued to participate in polar expeditions, retiring from the Air Force in 1953.
He worked at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute after his retirement and died in 1989.