Endel Puusepp

Endel Karlovich Puusepp (Russian: Эндель Карлович Пусэп; 1 May 1909 – 18 June 1996) was a Soviet bomber pilot of Estonian origin who completed over 30 nighttime strategic bombing campaigns during World War II.

[1][2] Endel Puusepp was born into a family of Estonian peasants who had settled in Yeniseysk Governorate, Siberia, during the Stolypin land reform.

After a successful air raid on Berlin, his airplane was heavily damaged by anti-aircraft artillery and resulting in an emergency landing in Estonia, then occupied by the Nazis.

Puusepp, who did not forget his native Estonian was able to find out the location of the Nazi troops from him and avoid being captured, safely returning to Soviet-controlled territory.

It was decided to send a Soviet delegation headed by the Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, first to Great Britain and then to the United States.

Puusepp was chosen to be the pilot for this unprecedented and highly risky operation, involving flying over the front line and enemy-controlled territories.

On May 29, 1942, after stopping in Tealing, Prestwick, Reykjavík, and Goose Bay, the Petlyakov Pe-8 plane with the Soviet delegation on board landed in Washington.

Endel's father Karl, a recipient of the Cross of St. George
Puusepp (left) on the cover of the magazine Ogoniok
Soviet heavy bomber Petlyakov Pe-8.