He made 258 sorties, spent 27 battles, shot down personally and in a group of 14 enemy aircraft. He showed special flying skills in the summer of 1943, destroying four Junkers-88 scouts, who were trying to break through to the capital, together with the followers at night.

Biography

Born on October 25, 1917 in the village of Alekseevka, Kharkov region, in the family of a forester. Since childhood, I dreamed of becoming a veterinarian. After 7 classes of a rural school, he worked on a collective farm, then graduated from the workers' faculty of the Kharkov Zootechnical Institute. At the age of 18, following the Komsomol call, he entered the Chuguev Military Aviation School, from which he graduated in 1938, mastered a combat fighter to perfection, had excellent piloting technique, served and fought in the Moscow region.

Who was

He entered the battle with the enemy in the summer of 1941 as a lieutenant, commander of the 27th Air Defense Iap. In July 1942 he was transferred to the 12th Guards IAP, continuing to defend the capital. At the end of the war, Major Katrich served as deputy commander (navigator) of the regiment. After the Victory, he continued to serve in aviation. In 1950 he graduated with honors from the Red Banner Air Force Academy, in 1959 - from the Military Academy of the General Staff. In 1964 - 1967 was Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force for combat training, in 1967 - 1973. commanded the 16th Air Army, then until 1987 he held the position of First Deputy Head of the USSR Civil Aviation Administration.

What is famous

The ram of an enemy scout on August 11, 1941 entered the history of the Great Patriotic War as the first high-rise. It was carried out at an altitude of 8000 m by Lieutenant of the 27th IAP Air Defense Aleksey Nikolaevich Katrich, and he performed it filigree, retaining the fighter, which he masterfully landed at his airfield. In the summer of 1943, he received a nominal Yak-1 aircraft, built at the expense of the chairman of the Chapaevets collective farm in the Saratov region, I.D. Frolov, and from the summer of 1944 he flew the Yak-9 with the inscription "Kharkov - fellow countryman Hero Soviet Union Aleksey Katrich, built at the expense of the Kharkiv Forestry Department.

Battle sites

Moscow, Moscow region.

Cases of manifestation of the highest degree of heroism

When performing a high-altitude ramming, he not only showed courage and courage, but also the highest flying skills, which made it possible to save the MiG-3 fighter aircraft damaged during impact and landing.

Circumstances of death

He died on November 25, 2004 in Moscow after a severe and prolonged illness at the age of 87.

State awards

Orders of Lenin, Order of the October Revolution, four Orders of the Red Banner, Alexander Nevsky, two Orders of the Patriotic War, 1st class, two Orders of the Red Star, Orders of Honor, and Orders for Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR, 3rd class. One of the first in 1965 was awarded the title of Honored Military Pilot of the USSR.

Born into a peasant family. Ukrainian. Finished seven years. He worked on the collective farm "Chervoniy torch". He graduated from the workers' faculty and entered the 1st year of the Kharkov Zootechnical Institute.

In the Red Army since 1935. In 1938 he graduated from the Chuguev Military Aviation Pilot School.

He served as a pilot in the 27th IAP of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District. By the beginning of the war, 36 out of 53 pilots had already mastered the MiG-3. But they also just started flying for the combat use of the new machine.

He participated in the Great Patriotic War from June 1941. He was deputy squadron commander of the 27th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps of the Moscow Air Defense Zone.

Member of the CPSU(b) since 1941

08/11/41 at 9.30 Lieutenant Katrich on a MiG-3 fighter paired with Lieutenant M.I. Medvedev flew to intercept an enemy reconnaissance Do.215 heading for Bologoye. Soon, the wingman's engine overheated, and he was forced to return to the airfield. Then Katrich continued the pursuit alone. Before reaching Bologoye, the enemy turned around and went along the Moscow-Leningrad railway. Katrich overtook him over Ostashkov at an altitude of about 9000 m, opened fire from a distance of 100 m, set fire to one of the engines and hit the gunner. And then he had machine guns. Then he decided to ram the enemy aircraft. Having approached the bomber, Katrich damaged its stabilizer with a propeller. The enemy plane fell on the wing and went down. Soon it crashed into the ground near the village of Staritsa and burned down. The crew died. Lieutenant Katrich landed safely at his airfield. The only damage to the fighter was the bent ends of two propeller blades. It was the first high-altitude ram.

Aviation Colonel General Katrich recalls: “On that day, August 11, 1941, I was lucky four times ...

For the first time, I was lucky when, walking at a favorite height for the “instant”, about eight thousand meters, I noticed a white plume stretching from west to east from an aircraft flying above me. Health allowed me then to fly without an oxygen mask and higher. I caught up with him, climbing nine thousand meters ...

Best of the day

The second luck - the sun shines on the back of my head ... They don’t see me, but I observe and conclude: they’re filming, bastards, on a camera railway Moscow-Leningrad. And along it - echelon after echelon, and in that clear weather - both trains and all the junction stations at a glance. If I don’t meet this “photographer”, a school of bombers will follow, they will bomb!

The third luck - the first burst I hit their shooter, and one engine began to smoke. They are in the drape. I followed, I press the trigger, and the machine gun jammed! There is ammunition - then I checked it publicly on the ground - the machine guns are silent. At such moments, such terrible anger seizes that you don’t think of anything else, except for one thing - to shoot down! ..

And I'm lucky for the fourth time: I rammed - and survived!

I think it helped to learn the parades on Red Square, when we walked exactly a meter apart, drawing complex figures in the sky.

Well, I theoretically knew how to carry out a blow in order to stay alive, and more than once, on the ground, like many of our pilots, I figured out my actions. He calculated the speeds, went from above on the right, so as not to fall under its wreckage, and slashed the stabilizer with a propeller.

Gnashing of metal. It shook me. The motor made a raspy roar. All…

He went down, and I carefully monitored the place of his fall, because in the Air Force they won’t take our word for it, they will demand material evidence - a crashed enemy plane. It crashed, as I determined on the map, on the outskirts of the city of Zubov, at the confluence of the Vazuza River into the Volga.

And I, on my barely breathing engine of the "migar", which does not like steep peaks, carefully reached my native field in Migalovo near Kalinin and sat down as expected.

On September 12, 1941, in an air battle on the distant approaches to Moscow, Lieutenant Katrich used a ram a second time and destroyed an enemy bomber. He landed at his airport.

On 10/17/41, he shot down a He.111 bomber.

10/27/41 shot down a Bf.109 fighter.

On October 28, 1941, Lieutenant Aleksey Nikolaevich Katrich was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Gold Star medal No. 549.

On October 29, 1941, near Novo-Petrovsky, he shot down a Ju.88 bomber.

In the summer of 1942, Captain Katrich was appointed commander of the 12th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment.

One of his brother-soldiers N.N. Shtuchkin: “Katrich was a calm, balanced, strong-willed person. Above average height, slender, fit, athletic. Everything was in harmony in him: black wavy hair, blue eyes, a smile on his swarthy face. And another thing that was immediately noticed was the amazing modesty of this man. Simply, he usually entered our team, although he had something to be proud of. Some even thought: “I haven’t had time to get proud yet, I’ve only been appointed to new position". And then we found out: he came to us not with an increase, but with a decrease. Even before joining us, he commanded a squadron, was deputy regiment commander, then he was appointed to the position of inspector for piloting technique of an aviation unit.

But it's hard for a pilot not to fly. Instead of an airfield - headquarters, instead of a fighter cockpit - an office and papers. No combat duty, no sorties on alarm. And Katrich began to seek a return to the front. Since his position was already taken, he was offered command of a squadron in our 12th Guards Aviation Regiment.

In September 1942, the regiment was re-equipped with Yak-7 fighters.

Since June 1943, he was in service with the Yak-1, and later received the Yak-9.

In the summer of 1943, Guard Captain Katrich received the Yak-1 aircraft, built at the expense of the chairman of the Chapaevets collective farm in the Saratov Region, I.D. Frolova.

On this machine of the guard, Captain Katrich won several more victories.

One day, Captain Katrich and Senior Lieutenant Kryukov flew out to intercept. Following target designations from the command post, they noticed the exhaust lights of engines in the black sky. Katrich remained on the right, ordered the wingman to go in for an attack on the left. A few minutes later, the bomber cut through the night sky with a huge burning meteor.

The next day, the collective farmer I.D. Frolov was sent such a letter - a report: “Dear Ivan Dmitrievich! Informing you that the combat account on your aircraft is open. Together with my comrade Kryukov, flying on an airplane donated to him by collective farmers of the Durasovsky district of the Saratov region, we shot down an enemy Junkers-88 bomber. Let this not be the last fascist plane destroyed by our common efforts.”

On August 6, 1943, four fighters of the 12th Air Defense Guards Guards, led by Guards Captain Katrich, performing a combat mission to cover ground forces within the borders of the Moscow Air Defense Army, entered into a night battle with eight Ju.88 bombers and forced them to drop bombs on the positions of their troops . Soviet pilots they shot down one and knocked out another bomber, and they themselves returned to the airfield without loss.

From August 1944 to February 1945, the 12th Air Defense Guards Division was part of the 318th Air Defense Division.

Major Katrich finished the war of the guards as deputy commander of the regiment.

In total, during the war, he made more than 250 sorties, in air battles he shot down 5 enemy aircraft personally and 9 in a group.

After the war, he commanded an air regiment, and then a division.

In 1950 he graduated with honors from the Red Banner Air Force Academy, in 1959 - from the Military Academy of the General Staff.

He was the commander of the Air Army, and then the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force for combat training.

In 1965 he was awarded the title of Honored Military Pilot of the USSR.

In 1972, Colonel General of Aviation Katrich was appointed 1st Deputy Minister of Civil Aviation.

Lived in Moscow.

He was buried in Moscow, at the Troekurovsky cemetery.

Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel General, Honored Military Pilot of the USSR

Born on October 25, 1917 in the village of Alekseevka, now Krasnokutsky district of the Kharkov region of Ukraine. Father - Katrich Nikolai Grigorievich. Mother - Anna Yakovlevna. Wife - Tamara Ivanovna (born in 1918). Son - Boris Alekseevich Katrich. Daughter - Tamara Alekseevna.

Aleksey Katrich was born in a small village in the Kharkiv region, into a Ukrainian family, where his father was a local forester. Parents from childhood taught their son to work. He loved the forest and his native nature. After the end of the seven-year plan, 14-year-old Alyosha, along with adults, began working on the Chervony Fakel collective farm. It was necessary to help the family where the younger brother and sister grew up. However, the craving for knowledge soon led him to the school of peasant youth, and then - in 1935 - to the workers' faculty of the Kharkov Zootechnical Institute. But in the same year, according to the Komsomol recruitment and fulfilling his secret dream, he became a cadet of the Chuguev Military Aviation School.

The father approved the choice of his son. Mother objected: “It would be better if you, Alyosha, worked with your father, all day in the forest, in the fresh air!”

Aleksey put all the heat of his heart into a new business. Three cadet years flew by like one joyful moment. And here he is, in brand new lieutenant buttonholes, a junior pilot of a fighter aviation regiment near Moscow.

He perfectly mastered his plane, merged with it in flight. It often seemed to him that he had been flying all his life. As an experienced pilot, he was included in the parade crew for a festive flight over Red Square. And he was proud of it. It was then that he acquired the skills of flight, strict observance of the distance and combat discipline. This later came in handy in combat battles with German aircraft, which began to penetrate the Moscow sky already in the first months of the war.

Lieutenant Katrich was looking forward to meeting the enemy, mentally imagining the course of the battle. And that day has come!

On August 11, 1941, breaking away from the concrete airfield and habitually removing the landing gear, he soared into the sky near Moscow on his MiG in a free search for the enemy. Gained more than 7000 meters, began to peer intensely into the boundless ocean of air. Soon I noticed the contrail of the aircraft in the height. Putting on an oxygen mask, he gave chase and overtook the enemy. It turned out to be the latest fascist bomber Dornier-217.

Katrich knew this plane well, he remembered that his machine guns hit further than the MiG machine guns. But without a second's hesitation, he rushed to the attack. Approaching from the direction of the sun, from 200 meters he gave a long burst of all machine guns. Then another and another, transferring fire from the fuselage to the engines and the cockpit.

But the bomber, despite the smoky trail from one of the engines, continued on its way. Katrich decided to continue to pour lead on the enemy aircraft. But the machine guns suddenly fell silent - the ammunition ran out. With lightning speed I made a decision: go to the ram! He had only one thought: to destroy the enemy.

Keeping the firmness of his hands, he increased his speed and, as in the parade over Red Square, approached the fascist as close as possible. With an elusive movement of the gas sector, his MiG was jewelryly forwarded to the tail of the bomber. Adjusted the speed. Another moment, and the screw, rotating at a frantic speed, touched the enemy, cutting off his stabilizer. Alexei's fighter shuddered, the engine began to shake, but the pilot, having removed the gas, turned away, brought the plane out of the dive and, skillfully adjusting the speed of the bent propeller, with difficulty, but safely reached his native airfield. And the Dornier, deprived of control, quickly lost altitude and after some moments crashed into the ground with a roar.

So the brave pilot Aleksey Katrich for the first time in the history of aviation made a high-altitude ram, destroyed the enemy and saved his plane!

After landing, he approached the bent, but withstood the most difficult test propeller. With what gratitude he would have embraced at that moment the owner of the working hands that made this screw! The next day, after replacing the screw, Lieutenant Katrich again took to the skies on combat duty. The account of downed aircraft was not only opened, but also began to replenish rapidly: on October 17, Heinkel-111 was shot down, on October 27, Messerschmitt-109.

On October 29, Katrich returned from another sortie. Staggering from fatigue, he reported: “A Yu-88 bomber was shot down near Novo-Petrovsky. Ready for a new mission." “Alyosha, dear! comrades shouted joyfully. “Here is the Decree. You have been awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union! Congratulations!!!"

The title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 549) was awarded to twenty-four-year-old fighter pilot Lieutenant Aleksey Nikolaevich Katrich in the very first months of the war, on October 28, 1941.

On June 7, 1943, the air regiment, where Captain Katrich had already commanded a squadron, received a letter from the chairman of the Chapaevets collective farm (Chapaevsky district of the Saratov region) Ivan Dmitrievich Frolov. He reported that he bought a combat fighter with his labor savings and was very glad to learn that it was handed over to Katrich: “... I am proud that you, Hero of the Soviet Union, are flying my plane. The path of hundreds of Fritz will find their grave from your blows. I am sure that on this plane you will shoot down more than one fascist vulture!

On the same day, the pilot sent a reply letter: “... I am pleased to inform you that the combat account on your aircraft has already been opened. A few days ago, Senior Lieutenant Kryukov and I shot down a German Junkers-88 night predator. This path will be the first, but by no means the last German aircraft shot down by our common efforts.

And the hero kept his word, increasing the score of the destroyed opponents.

The summer of 1944 arrived. Kyiv and Kharkov have already been liberated. But the enemy is still strong, he must be finished off. We need planes. The team of the Kharkov Forestry Department makes a decision: to collect voluntary contributions for the construction of three combat aircraft and transfer them to the air regiment, where their fellow countryman, the son of the forester Nikolai Grigoryevich Katrich, Hero of the Soviet Union Aleksey Katrich, bravely fights the enemy. Collected more than 300,000 rubles. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief approved the patriotic initiative of the Kharkiv foresters and expressed gratitude to them.

A delegation from Kharkiv arrived in Moscow to hand over combat aircraft. Among the guests were the hero's parents - Nikolai Grigorievich and Anna Yakovlevna. A solemn rally was held at the Central Aerodrome.

Warmly shaking hands with fellow countrymen, kissing his mother and father, Alexei climbed into the cockpit of a brand new ultra-fast Yak with an inscription on the fuselage: "Kharkov - to fellow countryman Hero of the Soviet Union Alexei Katrich." Katrich's colleagues took their places in two of the same "yaks". Engines roared, planes soared into the sky. And Anna Yakovlevna, who had not seen her son for three years and only once received news from the partisans about the heroic deeds of her beloved Alyosha, kept looking and looking after her, wiping her tears with the tip of her handkerchief.

During the war years, fighter pilot A.N. Katrich made 250 sorties, participated in numerous air battles, shot down 14 Nazi aircraft.

After the war, he became a student at the Air Force Academy. Then he commanded an aviation division. He was given the rank of general. And again - daily flights on new ultra-fast jet fighters. In 1957-1959 he studied again, at the Academy of the General Staff. Then - service in responsible positions: deputy commander of the air army, head of the Combat Training Directorate of the country's Air Force, commander of the air army of the Group of Forces in Germany.

For the development of the latest models of combat aircraft, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, General Katrich was awarded the honorary title "Honored Military Pilot of the USSR" in 1965. In 1973, Alexei Nikolayevich was appointed Deputy Minister of Civil Aviation of the USSR.

Only in 1987, at the age of 70, Alexei Nikolaevich, having gone through the most difficult military path from lieutenant to colonel general, left the service and retired for a well-deserved rest.

Hero of the Soviet Union, Honored Military Pilot of the USSR Aleksei Nikolaevich Katrich was awarded the Orders of Honor, Lenin, the October Revolution, four Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Alexander Nevsky, two Orders of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, two Orders of the Red Star, the Order for Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR » III degree, many medals.

2018-03-18T23:41:58+00:00

Katrich Alexey Nikolaevich (1917-2004).

Born on October 25, 1917 in the village of Alekseevka, Valkovsky district, Kharkov province Russian Empire.
In 1933 he graduated from the 7th grade of the school.
Until 1934, he worked as a livestock specialist on the Chervony Fakel collective farm (Valkovsky district, Kharkov region).
In 1935 he graduated from the workers' faculty at the Kharkov Zootechnical Institute.
Since September 1935 in the ranks of the Red Army.
In 1938 he graduated from the Chuguev Military Aviation Pilot School. He served in the Air Force of the Moscow Military District.

Since June 1941, Lieutenant A.N. Katrich was on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War as part of the 27th IAP (pilot, deputy commander and squadron commander). He flew the MiG-3. Participated in the defense of Moscow.

On August 11, 1941, Lieutenant Aleksey Katrich, on a MiG-3 fighter, paired with Lieutenant M.I. Medvedev, flew to intercept an enemy Do-215 reconnaissance aircraft headed for Bologoye. Katrich overtook him over Ostashkov at an altitude of about 8000 m and from a distance of 100 m he pierced the entire aircraft with a machine-gun burst. Katrich set fire to one of the engines with the second burst, and killed the shooter with the third burst, but the Dornier continued to fly. Then Katrich decided to ram. Quickly approaching the bomber, he approached it at a slight angle from the left side and damaged the stabilizer and keel with the ends of the propeller of his aircraft. Soon the Dornier crashed into the ground near the village of Staritsa and burned down. Lieutenant Katrich landed safely at his airfield. The only damage to the fighter was the bent ends of two propeller blades. It was the world's first high-altitude ram.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 28, 1941, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

Since July 1942 - squadron commander of the 12th Guards IAP PVO. Since November 1943 - the navigator of the regiment. Fought as part of the Moscow and Western air defense fronts. He flew the Yak-1, Yak-7 and Yak-9 (including 3 aircraft with dedicatory inscriptions). In the period from April 10 to August 5, 1944, a group of 10 pilots of the regiment under the command of the Guard Major A.N. Katrich carried out the combat order of the command of the 1st Air Defense Fighter Army to cover the transportation of troops, making 187 sorties.

By May 1945, Major A.N. Katrich of the Guard made 258 sorties, conducted 27 air battles, in which he personally shot down 5 and as part of a group of 9 enemy aircraft.

After the end of the war, he continued to serve in the Air Force.
In 1950 he graduated from the Air Force Academy (in Monino). He served as commander of a fighter aviation regiment, deputy commander and commander of a fighter aviation division (Moscow and Northern military districts).
From January to December 1957 - Deputy Commander of the 37th Air Army for Air Defense (Northern Group of Forces, Poland).
In 1959 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff.
In 1959-1960 - 1st Deputy Commander of the 73rd Air Army (Turkestan Military District).
Since 1960 - Deputy Chief, and in 1964-1967. - Chief of Combat Training of the Air Force.
From July 1967 to July 1973 - Commander of the 24th (from April 1968 - 16th) Air Army (Group Soviet troops in Germany).
In August 1968, he participated in the entry of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia.

In 1973-1977 - 1st Deputy Minister of Civil Aviation of the USSR.
In 1978 he graduated from the Higher Academic Courses at the Military Academy of the General Staff.
In 1978-1986 - Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Joint Armed Forces of the States Parties to the Warsaw Pact for the Air Force.
In February-September 1987, he was a military consultant to the Group of General Inspectors of the USSR Ministry of Defense.

Since November 1987, Colonel-General of Aviation A.N. Katrich has been retired. Lived in Moscow. He died on November 25, 2004, and was buried at the Troekurovsky cemetery.

Awards:
- medal "Gold Star" of the Hero of the Soviet Union No. 549 (10/28/1941)
- Order of Lenin (28.10.1941);
- Order of the October Revolution (02/18/1981);
- four orders of the Red Banner of War (03.11.1943, 02.22.1956, 10.31.1967, 02.21.1969);
- Order of Alexander Nevsky (08/31/1944);
- two orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree (07/24/1943, 03/11/1985);
- two orders of the Red Star (11/15/1950, 10/23/1987);
- Order "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 3rd degree (02/17/1976);
- Order of Honor (26.01.1998);
- medals;
- foreign orders.

Lieutenant A.N.Katrich in the cockpit of the MiG-3 fighter.

Left to right: Deputy com. 27th IAP Captain A.N.Katrich, commander captain F.S.

Colonel-General of Aviation A.N. Katrich.

List of sources:
Site "SOVIET ASY 1936-1953". Katrich Alexey Nikolaevich.
Site "Heroes of the country". Katrich Alexey Nikolaevich.

Born on October 12 (25), 1917 in the village of Alekseevka (now Krasnokutsky district of the Kharkov region of Ukraine). In 1933 he graduated from the 7th grade of the school. Until 1934, he worked as a livestock specialist on the Chervony Fakel collective farm (Valkovsky district, Kharkov region). In 1935 he graduated from the workers' faculty at the Kharkov Zootechnical Institute. Since September 1935 in the ranks of the Red Army. In 1938 he graduated from the Chuguev Military Aviation Pilot School. He served in the Air Force of the Moscow Military District.

On August 11, 1941, the deputy squadron commander of the 27th Fighter Aviation Regiment (6th Fighter Air Defense Corps, Moscow Air Defense Zone), Lieutenant A.N. at your airport. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 28, 1941, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 549).

From July 1942 - squadron commander of the 12th Guards IAP PVO. Since November 1943 - the navigator of the regiment. Fought as part of the Moscow and Western air defense fronts. He flew the Yak-1, Yak-7 and Yak-9 (including 3 aircraft with dedicatory inscriptions). In the period from April 10 to August 5, 1944, a group of 10 pilots of the regiment under the command of the Guard Major A. N. Katrich carried out the combat order of the command of the 1st Air Defense Fighter Army to cover the transportation of troops, making 187 sorties.

By May 1945, Major A.N. Katrich of the Guard made 258 sorties, conducted 27 air battles, in which he personally shot down 5 and as part of a group of 9 enemy aircraft.

After the end of the war, he continued to serve in the Air Force. In 1950 he graduated from the Air Force Academy (in Monino). He served as commander of a fighter aviation regiment, deputy commander and commander of a fighter aviation division (Moscow and Northern military districts). From January to December 1957 - Deputy Commander of the 37th Air Army for Air Defense (Northern Group of Forces, Poland). In 1959 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. In 1959-1960. - 1st Deputy Commander of the 73rd Air Army (Turkestan Military District). Since 1960 - Deputy Chief, and in 1964-1967. - Head of combat training of the Air Force. From July 1967 to July 1973 - Commander of the 24th (from April 1968 - 16th) Air Army (Group of Soviet Forces in Germany). In August 1968, he participated in the entry of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia.

In 1973-1977. - 1st Deputy Minister of Civil Aviation of the USSR. In 1978 he graduated from the Higher Academic Courses at the Military Academy of the General Staff. In 1978-1986 - Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Joint Armed Forces of the States - Parties to the Warsaw Pact for the Air Force. February-September 1987 - Military consultant of the Group of General Inspectors of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR. Since November 1987, Colonel-General of Aviation A.N. Katrich has been retired. Lived in Moscow. He died on November 25, 2004, and was buried at the Troekurovsky cemetery.

Awarded with orders: Lenin (10/28/1941), October Revolution (02/18/1981), Red Banner (11/03/1943, 02/22/1956, 10/31/1967, 02/21/1969), Alexander Nevsky (08/31/1944), Patriotic War 1- 1st degree (07/24/1943, 03/11/1985), Red Star (11/15/1950, 10/23/1987), "For service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 3rd degree (02/17/1976), Russian Order of Honor (01/26/1998 ); medals, foreign orders.

* * *

List of famous air victories by A. N. Katrich:

The date	Enemy	The place where the plane crashed or air combat	Own plane
11.08.1941	1 Do-215 (hit by ram)	Staritsa	MiG-3
17.10.1941	1 Xe-111	station Reshetnikovo
27.10.1941	1 Me-109	Novo-Zavidovo
29.10.1941	1 Yu-88	Novo-Pokrovsk
06.11.1941	1 Khsh-126 (paired)	Solnechnogorsk
06.11.1941	1 Me-109 (in gr. 1/3)	Lake Senezh
04.12.1941	1 Me-110 (in gr. 1/7)	Tsarevo
	1 Me-110 (in gr. 1/7)	Kryukovo
	1 Me-110 (in gr. 1/7)	Istra
30.08.1942	1 Yu-88	Shakhovskaya	Yak-7
20.06.1943	1 Yu-88 (paired)	north of the lake (on a night flight)	Yak-1
03.08.1943	1 Yu-88 (in gr. 1/3)	Dubrovka - Selinka (on a night flight)
04.08.1943	1 Yu-88 (paired)	Pushkino - Gornya (on a night flight)
05.08.1943	1 Yu-88 (paired)	station Ugra (on a night flight)
Total downed aircraft - 5 + 9; sorties - 258; air battles - 27.