Pokryshkin was a three-time recipient of the Hero of the Soviet Union decoration during wartime - for his exceptional air combat record of 53 solo kills and 6 shared ones (though these tallies are disputed nowadays).

He was airborne on the first day of Operation Barbarossa, shooting down a Bf109 after being jumped on a recon mission, and would continue flying for the duration of the war, inventing new air combat tactics and stoking the USSR's propaganda mill.