Top Allied fighter ace who scored 64 victories and was never downed by an enemy
«Bravery without tempering is a blank shot» — from his memoir Loyalty to the Fatherland.
The highest-scoring Allied fighter ace of the Second World War, with 64 solo victories across 330 sorties and 120 dogfights (and never shot down). A crack marksman, he habitually closed to 200–300 metres before firing. In February 1945 he became the first Soviet pilot to down a Messerschmitt Me 262 jet. Barred from combat flying in Korea, he commanded the 324th Fighter Aviation Division (1951–1952), whose pilots claimed 216 kills for the loss of only 27 MiG-15s. After serving as deputy commander of VVS Moscow Military District (1964–1971), he was promoted to Marshal of Aviation in 1985 and, at the 1990 Congress of People's Deputies, read the 'Appeal of Heroes' denouncing attacks on the armed forces.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1940Joined Red Army; graduated Chuhuiv Military Aviation School, retained as instructor
- 1943–1945Pilot → squadron commander → deputy commander 176th Guards Fighter Regiment. 64 victories, thrice Hero of the Soviet Union
- 1949Graduated Air Force Academy, Monino
- 1951–1952Commander, 324th Fighter Aviation Division, Korean War (call sign 'Krylov')
- 1956Graduated Voroshilov Higher Military Academy
- 1964–19711st Deputy Commander, Air Forces of Moscow Military District
- 1971–19781st Deputy Chief, Combat Training Directorate of the Air Force
- 1985Promoted to Marshal of Aviation
Related historical events
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarHighest-scoring Allied fighter aceHe scored 64 solo victories in 330 sorties and 120 dogfights, was never shot down, became the first Soviet pilot to down an Me 262 jet in February 1945, and was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union three times.
- 1950–1953The Korean WarParticipated as commander of a fighter aviation division
From a Village Boy to Fighter Pilot: The Years Before the Front
He was born on 8 June 1920 in the village of Obrazhiivka, Glukhov uyezd, Chernigov Governorate, the son of a peasant family; his father was the church warden. The village now lies in Shostka Raion of Ukraine's Sumy Oblast, and the biographical accounts describe him as Ukrainian. After finishing the seven-year school in his native village in 1934 he spent two years at a school for working youth in Shostka, then entered the town's chemical technology college in 1936. The English account adds that he also worked as a librarian during this period. His first contact with aviation was the Shostka aeroclub, which he joined in autumn 1938. He completed the club course in autumn 1939 while still studying at the college, but never finished the college: in January 1940, half a year before graduation, he received a call-up notice to a military school and became a Red Army serviceman. At the Chuhuiv Military Aviation School of Pilots he learned to fly the UT-2, UTI-4 and I-16. Sources disagree on when he graduated: the Russian account gives autumn 1940, the English account January 1941. He stayed on at the school as an instructor, and after the German invasion, when the school was evacuated to Shymkent in Kazakhstan, he continued there training pilots for the front. In November 1942 he was posted to the 240th Fighter Aviation Regiment, then being formed at Ivanovo, and in March 1943 he moved to the Voronezh Front with its division. This formative phase predates his fighting record and traces the path from a village schoolboy through instructor duty to frontline fighter pilot.