On the Kursk Bulge. A pilot who flew without legs.

"Life certainly ground me down. But if I were to start all over again, I would become a pilot once more. To this day, I cannot think of the sky without feeling special, noble emotions. My happiest moments in life are connected to airplanes. When they wrote in my medical record after the hospital: 'Fit for all types of aviation,' I felt on top of the world." (Alexey Maresyev) "Practically everyone read one of the most famous books about the Great Patriotic War during their school years, 'The Story of a Real Man' by Boris Polevoy. But not everyone knows that it is based on real events and the prototype of the brave pilot is the Hero of the Soviet Union Alexey Petrovich Maresyev. After a severe injury, he lost both legs but refused to retire and continued combat flights. Moreover, as a disabled person, he shot down almost twice as many enemy planes as before." "After the war, Alexey Maresyev 'talked a lot about the ordinary soldiers, about their courage, and it seemed - his own fame weighed on him somewhat. He believed that we would raise people devoted to their country, spoke about it without pathos but with deep feeling.'" "We invite you to listen to the hero pilot: read his memoirs about himself, his life, his participation in the Great Patriotic War, about the unparalleled courage of Soviet pilots, and all Russian people."