The Air Force, or VVS as it was then called, suffered particularly badly in the Purge, and Zhigarev's three predecessors (Aleksandr Loktionov, Yakov Smushkevich, and Pavel Rychagov) were all executed in 1941 by the NKVD for perceived military failures.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn | Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Stackelberg | Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov | Aleksandr Usov | Imperator Aleksandr II-class battleship | ''Imperator Aleksandr II''-class | Aleksandr Rodzyanko | Aleksandr Panayotov | Aleksandr Loktionov | Aleksandr Viktorovich Zakharov | Aleksandr Vasilyev | Aleksandr's Price | Aleksandr Shavlokhov | Aleksandr Myasnikyan | Aleksandr Mikhailovich Orlov | Aleksandr Lyapunov | Aleksandr Ivanovich Laktionov | Aleksandr Derevyagin | Aleksandr Burago | Aleksandr Baranov | Russian battleship Imperator Aleksandr III | Russian battleship ''Imperator Aleksandr III''' | Battleship ''Russian battleship Imperator Aleksandr III | Aleksandr Zakharov | Aleksandr Yuryevich Gushchin | Aleksandr Yevgenyevich Nechayev | Aleksandr Yakovlevich Chistyakov | Aleksandr Vyacheslavovich Chistyakov | Aleksandr Voronsky | Aleksandr Vladimirovich Nechayev |