Over 100 air to air kills (The 100 Club)

[HGabor]

Nice list. For Barkhorn, I would add his Yak-9 claims No. 286 and 287 (but at least one of them) on December 25, 1944 in Hungary. Unfortunately no details are known, but this day very heavy dogfights took place in the Székesfehérvár-Mór-Csákvár, Hungary area in which eg. the 17 VA, 288 IAD, 611 IAP lost 8 Yaks out of their 18. The 611 IAP pilots flew 48 missions this day.

Between 11:40-12:30 local, 6 Yaks, led by Sq. commander, Maj. Alexei Pavlovich Churilin (HSU) in the Csákvár-Zámoly, Moha area at 3000-4000 m. Combat with 10 Bf 109. Maj. Churilin lost his wingman, Ml.Lt. Kirichenko, who was MIA. Egorov climed a Bf 109 at Söréd-SE, 3 km. Rizhkov claimed another Bf 109 at Mór-SE, 4 km. Ml.Lt. Aleshkin was hit and crashlanded at 3 km north of the city of Székesfehérvár. Lt. Kutsenko was hit, his hands were badly burned, bailed out with parachute and landed safely. His Yak-1B went down in flames. Ml.Lt. Kirichenko, plus Ml.Lt. Aleshkin, or Lt. Kutsenko were all downed by Helmut Lipfert (II./JG.52) in the Mór-Székesfehérvár area. (Lipfert’s 165. and 166. –confirmed- victories at 12:08 and 12:15, local.)

Between 11:05-11:55 local, 7 Yaks, led by Capt. Batarov in combat with 2, 6, 4 Bf 109 in the Zámoly-Moha-Baklas area. In the battle Ml.Lt. Fadeev was hit, crashlanded at Dinnyés at Székesfehérvár-E,-SE. Yak of Ml.Lt. Alaverdov was also hit, he crashlanded 2 km north of his airfield with right leg injury.

Immediately after refill, between 14:55-15:45 local, 8 Yaks, led by Capt. Batarov again. Combat in the Székesfehérvár area with 4 Bf 109. Capt. Chernogor downed a Bf 109, which fell in the Csala area. Soon after this he was also downed in his Yak-1B, just like Ml.Lt. Yavlyukhin in his Yak-1B, who bailed out with parachute and landed safely. Capt. Chernogor crashed and was KIA.

Soviet records are contradicting regarding the lost planes. No straight connection between the lost planes and their pilots, only parallel lists. All Yak losses of 611 IAP on December 25, 1944 were written off in the mechanical report of December 27, 1944 as follows:

Yak-1B, S/N: 05193 - Missing
Yak-1B, S/N: 44172 – Missing, - probably Capt. Chernogor
Yak-1B, S/N: 14177 - Missing
Yak-1B, S/N: 15150 - Missing
Yak-9T, S/N: 1115364 – Missing, - probably Ml.Lt. Kirichenko. (Earlier, in August, 1944 this 611 IAP plane still served in the 236 IAD, 117 GvIAP!)
Yak-9M, S/N: 2715374 - Missing
Yak-9T, or M, S/N: 2715372 - Missing
Yak-9T, or M, S/N: 2715376 – Belly landing, - probably Ml.Lt. Alaverdov. This is the only loss where the engine serial number is not recorded. Probably because he landed near the airfield, and his engine was removed and reused later, thus only the AC frame was written off.

Note, that after batch No.25, Yak-9s were Yak-9M, not Yak-9T models, like 2715372, 2715374 and 2715376. In 1944 Yak-1B, No.44172 was flown by regiment commander, Isaenko not less than 41 times! So this was a commander’s plane. Thus I think on December 25, 1944 it went down with new pilot, Capt. Chernogor, also a chief officer. The rest of the plane-assignments is still confusing.

………………………………………………

Capt. Constantin Leontevich Chernogor (KIA) – Yak-1B
Lt. Nikolai Nikolaevich Kutsenko (WIA) – Yak-1B
Ml.Lt. Boris Alexandrovich Yavlyukhin (OK) – Yak-1B
Ml.Lt. Dmitrii Gavrilovich Kirichenko (KIA) – Yak-9T
Ml.Lt. Georgii Arteovich Alaverdov (WIA) – Yak-9
Ml.Lt. Alexei Timofeevich Fadeev – Yak-9
Ml.Lt. Ivan Ivanovich Aleshkin – Yak-9

Gabor

[HGabor]

LaGG-3, S/N: 31212560, engine: 3-1107 was lost on October 30, 1942 from 236 IAD, 269 IAP. Perhaps Barkhorn, in 95 783 ???