Red Star,3743722,Senior Pilot,927th Fighter Division,40th Army,Afghanistan

[Norm Braddock]

Well sportsfans, guess who got stung on this one. None other than yours truly.

I have emailed the owner for a refund.

Ok, same seller sold me the below. Pls advise.:thumbsup

Something tells me I will have crashed and burned on both.:thumbsdown


What the hell, let's have some positive out of all of this. Here's the translation done by none other Mr. Pavlo. At least it is a good story.

Documents pertaining to Order of the Red Star 3.743.722

1. Award card

Date and place of awarding: 5.7.84, Unit 40804
1. Last name: Shpak
2. Name and Patrionymic: Vladimir Aleksandrovich
3. Nationality: Russian
4. Gender: Male
5. Birthyear: 1957
6. Birthplace: Morshansk, Tambov Oblast
7. Party Membership: CPSU member since 1978
8. Education: upper-level
9. Military rank: Captain
10. Service in the Red Army: since 1974
11. Place of service and duty position at time of awarding: Unit 40804 Senior Pilot
12. Place of service and duty position at the present time: Same
13. Home of Record: 225210 Brest Oblast, Bereza, Northern Post, Bldg 48, Apt.12
14. Awards

Award Serial Number Awarder
Red Star 3.743.722 Supreme Soviet dated 13.06.1984

Verified 5.7.1984 by Unit 40804 Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Stetsyuk

2. Award Citation

1. Last name, name, and patrionymic: Shpak, Vladimir Aleksandrovich
2. Rank: Captain 29.11.82
3. Duty position, unit: Senior Pilot – Air Force 927 Fighter Aviation, 40 Army, Turkestan Military District since 14 April 1983

Application for the Order of the Red Star

4. Birthyear: 1957
5. Nationality: Russian
6. Party membership: since 1979 Morshansk, Tambov Oblast
7. Participation in the Patriotic War: n/a
8. Wounds or shell-shock: n/a
9. Armed Forces service: since 1 August 1974
10. Inducted by: Evpatorii Municipal Military Commissariat, Crimean Oblast
11. Earlier awards: n/a
12. Permanent address: 225210, Brest Oblast, Bereza, Northern Post #48, 12. Wife: Shpak, Natalya Ivanovna
Short Description of Combat Feat or Accomplishments

He has fulfilled his internationalist duty in the PRA [trans: Peoples Republic of Afghanistan] since 25 June 1983. During this time he accomplished 94 aerial attack missions lasting 90 hours. Displaying bravery and heroism he participated in seven operations against rebel bands, their storage sites, and weapons caravans. As a result of an airstrike in which he participated near Herat, 49 rebels, two DShK, and a weapons dump were destroyed. He accomplished 45 aerial reconnaissance missions and discovered fifteen caravans. He painstakingly prepared for the accomplishment of combat missions and successfully accomplished them. In difficult combat conditions he acted professionally. He is a Pilot First Class. He flies the MiG-21bis. He is trained for combat operations at day or night given minimum weather conditions. His total flight time is 730 hours. He flies boldly and confidently without causing aerial accidents. He continuously perfects his combat mastery, thus enabling the destruction of ground targets from the first attack.
He is an expert of military and political training. He sets the example in fulfilling his service and internationalist duty.

Conclusion: For heroism, bravery, and successful mission accomplished during the fulfilment of his internationalist duty in PRA, he is deserving of the Order of the Red Star.

Signed Commander, 927 Fighter Aviation Regiment, Colonel Tarasevich on 27 February 1984
Endorsed Air Force Commander, 40 Combined Arms Army, General-Major of Aviation G. Kolodii on 1 March 1984
After positive determination by the Army military committee on 19.03.1984 Protocol #14, he is deserving of the Order of the Red Star, signed Commander, 40 Combined Arms Army, General-Major L. Generalov on 19 March 1984

[Lapa]

Originally Posted by Kapusta Norm

ok, im bringing out the big guns. time for professional photography.:thumbsup

;):thumbsup

Norm,

The problem with hand-engraved duplicates is that you either believe in them, or you don't :o

In this case, I'd vote this one :thumbsdown

Marc

[ph3s]

I vote no as well, the star is from period when duplicates were punched, not engraved. I'm afraid those gonna flood the market, recently I saw a documented group of 3 RSs fake engraved

[Eryk]

Originally Posted by Lapa

The problem with hand-engraved duplicates is that you either believe in them, or you don't :o

Is it open to debate, whether they're real or not? What's the word in the Russian language community?

I've always assumed they were fake. Is there documentation that says some are not fake? Inquiring minds want to know. :)

[Lapa]

Originally Posted by Eryk

Is it open to debate, whether they're real or not? What's the word in the Russian language community?

I've always assumed they were fake. Is there documentation that says some are not fake? Inquiring minds want to know. :)

Erik,

It seems that you misunderstood me. This type of duplicate does exist, no argument about that. The thing is that more and more hand-engraved duplicates are hitting the market, and those ARE the problem. Some may be genuine, but most of them IMHO were produced by the infamous "Garage Mint".

Fakers are becoming better and better, now imitating with a rather fair level of success the original handwriting of MD engravers. So, to summarize it all, with this type of duplicate, it has become extremely difficult to differentiate legitimate originals from home-production; adding one of these to a collection most of the time can be equated to taking a major leap of faith :cool:

Marc

[Eryk]

Originally Posted by Lapa

It seems that you misunderstood me. This type of duplicate does exist, no argument about that.

First saw one of these for sale a few years ago, and if I remember it raised eyebrows among collectors. Seemed odd that an Arabic "D" would be used as the abbreviation for the word дубликат.

What is the history of this type of duplicate being officially produced?