Soviet P-63 pilot, escaping with He 111 w.V1(s)

[Juha]

Thank Marsyao for this interesting info.
I can give a weak support to You, because in 80s I read some WWII Finnish interrogation reports on Soviet defectors interrogations. Few of them had told that they had made unsuccessful defection attempts before the successful one. When they had been caught they had got hard labour sentences but usually after a few months these were suspended and they were then sent to labour battalions or even back to front line with a hint that their case would be reconsidered after the war. So even the caught defectors were not shot out of hand in Red Army, at least not at Lake Onega area, which probably suffered more than average lack of troops in 1942-43.
Andrey, the story of Devyatayev’s gulag sentence is older, at least here in Finland. I heard or read the story in 70s.

Juha