Medal - Nikolai Gastello (Belorussia) ND

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Lettering: ЦЕНОЮ ЖИЗНИ...

Translation: At the cost of life ...

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Captain Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello was a Russian aviator and a Hero of the Soviet Union. He is one of the best known Soviet war heroes, being the first Soviet pilot to conduct a "fire taran" – a suicide action by the pilot of an aircraft on fire, flying into a target with the intention of setting it alight.