Yuri Vlaslovich Ostrovsky
Yuri Vlaslovich Ostrovsky was assigned as a driver to pilot Baron Chaykovsky. When their airfield was attacked Chaykovsky panicked and refused to leave his car. Ostrovsky did what any red-blooded peasant would: he jumped into the plane and took off. In the sky, he pulled his service revolver from its holster and downed one of bombers through the expediency of killing its pilot. Upon landing, he was immediately promoted to the rank of pilot-sargeant and given his own plane. Somehow surviving the war, despite flying an array of outdated and outclassed aircraft that he maintained himself, Ostrovsky earned five more kills. When the war transitioned into the revolution, Ostrovsky transitioned as well. Whether he was flying for the Imperial Russian Air Service or the Workers' and Peasants' Red Air Fleet mattered little to him. His outgoing personality and willingness to do whatever was required caught the eye of Leon Trotsky, who made Ostrovsky his personal driver and pilot. In 1922, perhaps sensing that matters with Stalin were reaching the boil, Trotsky dispatched members of his personal entourage around the world with instructions to establish themselves and await further communications. Ostrovsky had learned English from a succession of American and English observers and trainers who had been attached to his unit, so he was sent to the United States.