[HGabor]

On October 1, 1944 the four 17 VA, 288 IAD regiments had only 6 (Saratov, Zavod 292 built) Yak-3 fighters:

S/N: 1215 - 1Lt. Fisenko (659 IAP) - crashed on December 21, 1944
S/N: 1515 - Lyapin, Shukin (659 IAP)
S/N: 1711 - means the 17th Yak-3 of batch #11 - Maj. Koldunov (866 IAP) - September 22 - November 15, 1944.
S/N: 2917 - Capt. Bondar (866 IAP)
S/N: 3918 - Balashov (866 IAP), Fisenko (659 IAP)
S/N: 4516 - Ovcherenko (288 IAD HQ)

All other fighters of 288 IAD regiments were Yak-1B (eg. 39167), Yak-9D (eg. 16166070), Yak-9DD (eg. 0115334), Yak-9T (eg. 0815381) and Yak-9M (eg. 2715322) fighters, Yak-1s from Saratov (Factory No.292), Yak-9s from Omsk (Factory No.166) and mainly from Novosibirsk (factory No.153). Considering all of this, Maj. Koldunov had to fly (probably) a Yak-9 in August, 1944, or perhaps he borrowed and tested a new Yak-3 from a fellow pilot.

Koldunov's regiment (17 VA, 288 IAD, 866 IAP) received 4 more Yak-3s in the next few days:

On October 8, 1944: Yak-3 No. 2015 from Saratov (Factory No. 292) - Shekolenko (659 IAP)
On October 10, 1944: Yak-3 No. 310055 (Capt. Shukin, 659 IAP), 310081 (Lt. Laguta, 659 IAP) and 310220 (Shekolenko, 659 IAP) from Tbilisi (Factory No. 31)

288 IAD (866 IAP) had only a single Yak-3 loss in September, 1944: 1Lt. Shamonov on September 18, 1944, - pilot unhurt. Many Yak-3s, originally assigned to 866 IAP ended up with the 659 IAP. Most 288 IAD Yak-3s had factory markings/numbers (just like the later La-5s, La-7s from Factory No.21) with large digits from Tbilisi and smaller digits from Saratov, according to their 'plane-in-the-batch' numbers. So Maj. Koldunov's plane was probably marked white '17' after S/N: 1711.

I hope this helps.
Cheers,

Gabor