Aleksey Maresyev

Obverse

a relief image of the National Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation, above it along the rim the inscription in a semicircle ‘РОССИЙСКАЯ ФЕДЕРАЦИЯ’ (RUSSIAN FEDERATION) framed with paired diamonds on both sides, under the coat of arms on the left the chemical symbol and fineness of the metal and on the right the fine metal content and the mint mark, at the bottom centre in three lines the inscription ‘БАНК РОССИИ’ (BANK OF RUSSIA), the coin denomination ‘2 РУБЛЯ’ (2 RUBLES), and the year of issue ‘2026 г.’ (2026).

Reverse

relief images of the portrait of Aleksey Maresyev, Hero of the Soviet Union, and a Gold Star medal against the background of a flying aeroplane silhouette and stylised images of contrails, laser treated for matte finishing, and the inscription ‘А.П. МАРЕСЬЕВ’ (ALEKSEY MARESYEV) under the portrait.

Authors

Designers: E.V. Kramskaya (obverse), A.A. Brynza (reverse).
Sculptors: A.A. Dolgopolova (obverse), O.G. Shepel (reverse).
Mint: Saint Petersburg Mint (СПМД).
Edge: 195 corrugations.

Discover more

Aleksey Petrovich Maresyev (1916–2001) was a legendary Soviet military pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, the prototype of the protagonist of the famous book ‘The Story of a Real Man’.

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, Maresyev was sent to the Southwestern Front. He was a pilot and flight commander of the 296th Fighter Aviation Regiment, then the 580th Fighter Aviation Regiment on the Northwestern Front. In spring 1942, his track record already included three downed German aircraft.

On 4 April 1942, during a combat mission, Maresyev’s Yak-1 fighter was shot down in the area of the so-called Demyansk Pocket (the Demyansk and Valdai Districts of the Novgorod Region) and made an emergency landing behind Nazi lines. For 18 days, the pilot, badly wounded in both legs, crawled towards the front line. He was found by residents of the village of Plav (the Kislovsky Rural Settlement in the Valdaysky District). In early May 1942, Maresyev was transported to a Moscow hospital, where doctors had to amputate his both legs because gangrene had set in.

Maresyev mastered his prosthetic limbs and asked to return him to active service. After that, he went back to the front as a fighter pilot. On 20 July 1943, he managed to cover two Soviet pilots and simultaneously shoot down two Nazi fighters, for which he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

In total during the war, he flew 86 combat sorties and took part in 26 air battles, in which he personally shot down 11 German aircraft, including seven of them after losing both legs.

Source: https://tass.ru, https://history.ru