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Part One: The Foundations of the Volftsun Family 41 Iosif was initially trained to maintain and repair the YAK-1 fighter. When the Germans had invaded the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, the German air force swept all resistance before it. Luwaffe fighters destroyed Russian aircra in the air and on the ground with effectiveness, and German aces racked up huge numbers of "kills." Many of the aircra destroyed were old and obsolete, but Germans came to respect a new type of airplane called the Yakovlev "YAK-1" fighter. At first, it was no match for the German Messerschmitt, but quite soon the YAK-1 and its successors would improve in quality and grow in numbers. In the end, they would fly unchallenged over a shattered Berlin. Iosif 's first assignment was to support a squadron of Lavochkin LA-5 fighter aircra. This was a challenge for Iosif because the LA-5s relied on completely different cooling systems. While the YAK-1 was water-cooled, the LA-5 used an air-cooling system. Nevertheless, he applied his usual ingenuity and quickly learned the new system. In June of 1944, he was assigned to the 236 Fighter Aircra Division, a unit of the 117th Guardia Aviation, and worked on YAK-1 aircra once again. Over the next 12 months, Iosif 's unit was stationed in Romania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Austria. The aircra maintenance units were almost always at the ont, where the fighting was. The service was regarded as so hazardous that Iosif 's salary was 50 percent higher to reflect the increased hardship and risk that he cononted every day. "Before I went off to war, my father told me to pray the Shema every day, especially if in a dangerous situation" Iosif says. "I did this every day and I believe it kept me alive." Iosif 's unit was bombed equently and many of his comrades were killed. His survival was a miracle—or perhaps the protection of that prayer. Below: Iosif in Kiev, Ukraine, 1947, as Jr. Lieutenant. The photograph was taken aer Iosif 's graduation om the aircra military college. One incident om when his unit was in Hungary stands out in Iosif 's memory. Iosif and a colleague were on the tarmac of a landing field replacing an engine in a fighter airplane. The team used a makeshi crane to li the old engine out of the engine compartment and drop in a new engine. All of a sudden, the Germans launched an attack and German Meschershmitt aircra began to bomb the landing site.

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