The top Yak ace of the war who rose to command the Air Defence Forces, and fell after a teenager landed on Red Square
On 7 November 1944 over Niš, Yugoslavia, American P-38s mistakenly strafed a Soviet column. Captain Koldunov took off, flew his Yak-9 alongside the American lead, and waggled his wings to show the red star. The only direct US-Soviet combat of WWII ended on that signal.
The highest-scoring Yak fighter ace of the German-Soviet war with 412 sorties and 46 solo victories, he was twice awarded Hero of the Soviet Union. During the November 1944 Niš incident he led Soviet fighters against American P-38s mistakenly attacking a Red Army column, then broke off the only direct US-Soviet combat of WWII by displaying his red-star markings. Rising through the Air Defence Forces, he became Commander-in-Chief in 1978 and received the rare rank of Chief Marshal of Aviation in 1984. Dismissed in June 1987 after Mathias Rust's Cessna landed on Red Square, he died in 1992 and was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery.
Career Timeline
- 1943–1945Pilot → squadron commander, 866th Fighter Aviation Regiment — 412 sorties, 46 solo victories, twice Hero of the Soviet Union
- 1952–1960Graduated Air Force Academy and General Staff Academy; regimental and division commander
- 1962–1968Fighter aviation commander, Baku PVO District → Commander, 11th PVO Army (Far East)
- 1970–1975Commander, Moscow Air Defence District
- 1975–1978First Deputy C-in-C, Soviet Air Defence Forces
- 1978–1987C-in-C, Soviet Air Defence Forces; promoted Chief Marshal of Aviation 1984
- 1987.6Dismissed after Mathias Rust lands on Red Square
Related historical events
The Air Battle over Niš (1944)
On the morning of 7 November 1944, the only documented direct combat between American and Soviet forces in World War II erupted near Niš, Yugoslavia. Soviet troops of the 6th Guards Rifle Corps, marking the October Revolution anniversary, were advancing along the Niš-Belgrade road when P-38 Lightnings of the U.S. 82nd Fighter Group, scrambled from Foggia, Italy, strafed their column. Colonel Clarence Edwinson's squadrons, never briefed that Soviet forces had advanced over 100 km beyond their last known position, mistook the Red Army convoy for retreating Germans. The attack killed 34 soldiers, including corps commander Lieutenant-General Grigory Kotov.
Yak-9 fighters scrambled from Niš airfield but the P-38s, failing to recognize the red star markings, shot down one Yak on takeoff. Captain Aleksandr Koldunov, then 21 and already a 15-kill ace, led a flight of Yak-3s from a second airfield into the fray. In the chaotic 15-minute dogfight, Koldunov flew his Yak-9 alongside the lead American P-38 and waggled his wings to display the red star insignia. The American pilots recognized the signal, broke off, and withdrew south.
Two American P-38s were shot down with both pilots killed; the Soviets lost three Yak-9s. Documents recovered from the wreckage confirmed to Soviet troops that the attackers were American. Three days later, General Aleksei Antonov lodged a formal protest with the U.S. military mission in Moscow. On 14 December Ambassador Averell Harriman apologized on behalf of Roosevelt and Marshall, but the official explanation, navigational error 50 miles off-target, failed to convince many, and postwar Soviet memoirs alleged the attack was deliberate. Both governments classified the incident during the war to deny Germany propaganda. In Cold War Soviet accounts it was cast as a 'treacherous allied strike.' A Russian-Serbian monument commemorating the Soviet dead was unveiled in Niš in 2015.