[HGabor]

Thank you Paul, interesting materials. It is true that towards the end of the war new technology (Bf 109G methanol-injection, or Yak-9U, La-7 fighters, etc.) mutually surprised both sides. New fighter behavior made some pilots discovering ‘new’ enemy planes in the air and in their reports, like ‘Yak-11’ , etc. Hard to say anything what really happened in April, May 1945, because as the 3rd Reich was shrinking, op. area of the Luftwaffe also became smaller, making different AC types able to reach other geographical areas. Also, in the final weeks tons of documents were lost, destroyed on purpose, or some quick actions were simply not documented at all. Perhaps the only witnesses got killed before reporting anything. However.

On March 8 and 9, 1945 Koldunov’s 866 IAP was involved in heavy dogfights in the Káloz-Seregélyes area in Hungary, south of Lake-Velencei. On March 8, 1945 soviet Yak-3 flight lost Victor Vasilevich Yablochkin in his Yak-3, S/N.: 310099, engine: 422-166. At 14:20, Moscow time six Yaks, under the command of Panin encountered 8 Bf 109s. Yablochkin’s Yak-3 got hit, and trailing white smoke disappeared. Fellow pilots saw a big explosion north of railway station of Zichyújfalu, but it is not confirmed that it was Yablochkin’s plane.
On March 9, 1945 Koldunov’s flight of 7 Yak-3s attacked Bf 109s and Fw 190s near Seregélyes. Bf 109Gs probably belonged to Hungarian 101/1. Sq., led by Michna György hdgy., intercepting the flight of sixteen, 17 VA, 260. BAP A-20 Bostons, taking off from Sombor airfield. One Bf 109G crashed at 17:15 near Antal-major (Dég-NE), killing her pilot, Szabó János (John) hdgy., who probably fell to the guns of Lt. N. G. Surnev. Koldunov and Kosmin also reported victories.
5 VA Bostons (452, 453 and 48 BAP) attacked Várpalota in the morning in three waves.
Total Boston loss of soviet 5th and 17th VA on March 9, 1945 was three A-20Gs:

42-54189, - engines: 42-174893, 42-174916
42-54225, - engines: 42-154336, 42-155242
42-86687, - engines: …105022, …85751
and an A-20C:
42-33326, - (written off without the engines),

while several others (eg. 43-10085, etc.) were damaged, and/or temporarily disabled. Soviet AF suffered very serious losses in March, 1945 while trying to stop Germany’s last major panzer offensive (Frühlingserwachen) of WWII in the Lake-Velencei area, Hungary. All air units of 5 and 17 VA, including Koldunov’s 866 IAP were extremely busy these days. Koldunov claimed his last 2 Fw 190s over Austria on April 11, 1945 (Stockerau-W, Goldegeben-S), but I think they were just regular Fw 190F-8s or 9s, not Doras. (BTW: 5 VA, 13 GvIAD, 151 GvIAP’s main AC type was the Yak-9U these days, very similar to the Yak-3. They lost two Omsk-built Yak-9Us (S/N.: 42166063 and 42166074) on April 16 and 17, 1945, - not Yak-3s!)

Gabor