BERGINS, JANIS

• 1927 - completes his compulsory military service with the aviation regiment and then remains with the Regiment as an aviation mechanic.
• Spring, 1928 - selected for flight training.
• August 21, 1928 - Graduates from flight school
• Rank: sergeant
• July 30, 1929 - designated the status of first line military aviator.
• 1938 - appears on the roster of the 1st Fighter Squadron, flying Gloster Gladiators.
• December 1940 (Soviet Occupation) - meets with Soviet aviation authorities for an interview.
• 1941 - Accepted to the civil transport service as a pilot. He is granted a Type-3 license, which permits him to fly in all sorts of weather and with passengers. He is assigned to fly an S-2 flying ambulance, transporting patients, doctors and occasionally mail and passengers.
• Spring 1941 - sent on a special assignment to spread insecticide from a U-2 aircraft which had been converted for crop dusting. This was carried out over the spruce forests at Incukalns, Vangas and Ropaza.
• June 27, 1941 - with the German attack on the Soviet Union, Bergins is assigned to fly an S-2 from Riga to Russia with a Soviet comissar as passenger.
• July 2, 1941 - he is ordered to fly to Rzev. En route, with N.Vulfs in another hospital plane alongside, they come under attack from a Russian fighter. Seeing an airfield below they both quickly land, and the fighter airplane lands behind them. Bergins apparently gave the russian pilot an angry lecture about aircraft type recognition.
• July 7, 1941 - he is assigned to Kinzala for training as a bomber pilot.
• August 28, 1941 - he is transferred to the Civil Aviation section at Kazan.
• September 9, 1941 - assigned as an instructor to a training squadron in the Russian steppes.
• March 1943 - assigned to the Latvian night bomber unit, being formed in Zolina. Eventually, he becomes a flight commander with their second squadron.
• October 8, 1943 - Bergins is temporarily seconded to 661 Squadron to add extra aircraft for a particularly large bombing mission. His observer on this mission was Capt.Harcihins, and apparently they had some disagreement about details of the mission.
• After the war, Bergins was employed as a despatcher at Spilve.