Soviet Air Force Air to air Claims WW2
 

Good Evening
Has anybody found a listing for all Soviet fighter pilots claims from World War 2 per example they found that microfilm for the Luftwaffe aerial claims in WW2 that has been use for the 4 volumen set of Luftwaffe aces Biographies and Victory Claims by Red Kite books.

cheers
Santiago

Re: Soviet Air Force Air to air Claims WW2
 

Santiago,

Mikhail Bykov published Vse Acy Stalina 1936-1953 (All Stalin's Aces) in 2014. It is 1392 pages long, and gives details on about 3500 Soviet aces; full name, year of birth, units served in, ranks, awards, victory lists. I do not know if it is still in print.

Just published a month ago, in English and German, is Waldemar Trojca's Soviet Union Air Aces 1941-1945. A4 size, 768 pages. Despite the title, this book covers basically all fighter pilot recipients of the award Hero of the Soviet Union. In four parts, those with 3 awards, those with 2 awards, those with 1 award, and a small group of those with only a lower award. It covers 381 pilots, not all of whom are aces. The paper is coated stock, with many photos and aircraft silhouettes. Short text for each entry, with date of birth and death, units served, types flown, awards, and a list of victories. It starts with 100 or so pages with details on the Soviet and German aircraft of the Great Patriotic War. Expensive.

Mikhail Bykov I believe is the main force behind a large web site attempting to document the Soviet aces. http://soviet-aces-1936-53.ru/ It is being built slowly, and gets regular updates. The entries here are substantial updates on his book.

He has a similar website which appears to be trying to do the same for the Soviet pilots with fewer than 5 victories. http://sovpilots.ru/menu_page.html
Both websites are in Russian. The second one is considerably smaller than the first. I mirror both of them monthly. The first one also has a large hidden collection of material on Soviet WW2 snipers, which I haven't been able to figure out how to access (or how to not mirror, since I am not interested in snipers).

Someone ought to translate Bykov's book into English and publish it. It "should" be easy, since there is very little actual Russian text. "should" is the key word of course. And if someone does translate and publish it, I really hope Mikhail sees substantial royalties.

And perhaps this thread belongs under "Books and Magazines".

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: Soviet Air Force Air to air Claims WW2
 

Good morning,

in STALIN'S FALCONS Tomas Polak writes that Soviet fighter pilots claimed approximately 40.000 aerial victories. This appears quite high to me as this is about as high as the Luftwaffe score on the Eastern Front and twice as high as the Western Allied score on the Western front. Has anybody ever found a different figure (based on credited claims, not on losses) ?

Cheers,

Michael

Re: Soviet Air Force Air to air Claims WW2
 

Frank and Knusel,

The sites are amazing...but do lack a SEARCH facility...for instance if someone wants to check only the Hs 126 claims....one need to go through all the aces, one by one, claim by claim....there is NO search facility on the sites...so this is my suggestion of enhancing it.

The other question is: How many LW machines were lost on the Eastern Front, from the 22nd June 1941 up to 9 May 1945? IF more than 40k...so the Russian claims may be totally right...

I do ask that because Herr Martin Drewes said me that his British Interrogator questioned his and the Nachtjagd claims to whom he answered: "Go back and see how many RAF airplanes are missing"...which put him directly on the list of "pro-nazis" POW's and gave him a stay of 4 years in England as such....

A.

Re: Soviet Air Force Air to air Claims WW2
 

...and the Russian sites also do not have a search facility PER DATE...which would help historians and researchers alike to find out who claimed on their side, versus who was lost on the LW side....

For instance am looking for a Ju 88 claim on the 23 August 1941 and a probable claim of a Hs 126 on the 26 or 27 June 1941.

What you are looking for is something on the Russian or Eastern Front like Tony Wood did for the RAF x LW on his site and PDF files...THAT would be something indeed....but would need the help of quite a dozen historians, etc....

A.

Re: Soviet Air Force Air to air Claims WW2
 

Hello Adriano,

you addressed Frank and therefore I might be the first to tell you the depressing info that Frank Olynyk has passed away. He lives on in the memory of those who benefitted from his big kindness when sharing his vast knowledge.

No, I'm not looking for Luftwaffe losses on the Eastern Front but for the number of kills that the Soviet believed to have scored.

Best greetings from Switzerland, sincerely,

Michael

Re: Soviet Air Force Air to air Claims WW2
 

Hello,

Sad news about Mr. Olynyk, who was always very kind and helpfull. May he rest in peace!

Regarding Bykov's amazing work, his book is available to buy through Google books for a very limited price. Once among your bought books, it's possible to search it for claims on a specific date.

Best regards/Håkan

Re: Soviet Air Force Air to air Claims WW2
 

Good morning Håkan,

if memory serves me well I read about a total of 20.000 Soviet WW2 claims which sounds more realistic to me. But I cannot relocate the website in which I read it, so far...

Cheers,

Michael