Michael,
I know it has been pointed out to you before, but you really do need to obtain the Mikhail Bykov book,
Все асы Сталина 1936–1953 (All Stalin's Aces). I obtained a copy cheaply and quickly from a bookseller in Moscow, Viktor Kulikov:
viktor_kulikov@mail.ru.
Although entirely in Russian, it is easy enough to follow, and Google Translate is very handy.
This will answer all of your questions on Soviet aces. Books like those by Mellinger are superseded entirely by the work of Bykov.
Cheers,
Andrew A.