[Monaco]

One of his legs was seriously injured and this prevented him from flying again immediately.
From D.Zampini:
After a long convalescence due to his wounds and several photo sessions and tours to raise morale, he finally was allowed to return to a unit on the front. And he did so being transferred to the elite 9 GIAP (268 IAD, 8 VA Southern Front, since 11.12.42 back in combat operating from Zeta/Zety airfield S of Stalingrad). The new Commander, Lev Lvovich Shestakov, was forming a special regiment with aces and Mikhail Baranov was a logical choice to join the ranks of this guard unit. However Baranov could never show his qualities in combat again: On January 17, 1943, when testing a Yak-1 newcomer from the factory, he had to land due to problems in the aircraft (according to documents with the R-7 judgment of speed regulator). After landing, he asked permission to take off with another plane and began to make figures beginning from high flight in the area. At 3,000 m altitude he made a left turn, then a revolution and quickly put the Yak-1 into horizontal flight. The plane responded well at the controls of the experienced flier. Suddenly his plane again turned upside down and at a growing rate went vertically downward. The fighter crashed violently into the frozen ground and exploded immediately... The cause of the incident is still a mystery. He was first buried in Kotelnikovo, which is far away from any german claims for a single-engined inline fighter...