Aces who scored 25 or more kills in the La-5

[Nick Hector]

Originally Posted by HGabor

Michael,

Tsapov's unit never fought over Hungary, therefore I never collected materials on them. As of the books: I do not want to judge anyone's work without deeper research (that I have no time for), so it is up to you what you do with them.... But the story of Maj. Krasnov is definitely fake in there.

Gabor

Mellinger claims that one of the Soviet aces shot down and killed Franz-Josef Beerenbrock. Beerenbrock survived as a POW and in any case the date Mellinger gives is incorrect. Few other errors but I can't recall them right now. Suffice it to say, I don't put much stake in Mellinger...

[HGabor]

On January 29, 1945 the soviet 18 Tank Corp. had:

78 T-34 (mainly T-34/85s with a few T-34/76s) tanks
11 ISU-152 self propelled guns (heavy)
16 ISU-122 self propelled guns (heavy)
1 SU-85 self propelled gun
13 SU-76M self propelled guns
.................................................
Their assignment in the main units:

The 110 tank brigade (turret markings: '4xx') had:
18 T-34 tanks
6 SU-76M self propelled guns

The 170 tank brigade (turret markings: '5xx') had:
12 T-34 tanks - they had heavy losses around Perkáta.
7 SU-76M self propelled guns

The 181 tank brigade (turret markings: '6xx') had:
43 T-34 tanks (16 in reserve) - they had losses near Dunapentele (now: Dunaújváros)

(363 Гв. САП had the heavy ISUs, smaller units had the rest.)

So they requested the aerial support in which Maj. Krasnov was lost from 530 IAP (La-5FN, No.39211314). During covering actions two IL-2s of 130 GvShAP had mid-air collision near Adony after being hit by flak. Both IL-2 crashed (No.1872975 - Isaev, No.18793101 - Sorochenko). 951 ShAP lost IL-2 No.1878078 near Adony (ml.lt. Nabokov), 449 BAP lost A-20G Boston No.43-10101 near Kecel (ml.Lt. Philippov) at crashlanding, crew returned.

Gabor

[HGabor]

La-5 ace, Capt. Nikolai Skomorokhov (17 VA, 31 IAP) flew La-5FN with factory marking '56' in early 1945 in Hungary. See attached pic.

In January, 1945 the three fighter-regiments of 17 VA, 295 IAD (31, 116, 164 IAP) had only 2 known La-5s with xxxxxx56 serials:

39211156
39212056

Since on January 30, 1945 ml.Lt. Derevnev (31 IAP) was killed in 39211156 (engine: 8211268) in a dogfight, Capt. Skomorokhov's plane had to be 39212056.

(Later the 31 IAP received another '56' La-5FN: 39211556, which crashlanded on March 28, 1945 (pilot: ml.lt. Danov, engine: 82111423), but still was not listed in early 1945. Previously the 31 IAP had a trainer version La-5U as well, 39212156 (engine: 829192), which crashlanded on December 21, 1944 with ml.Lt. Chirkin, so looks like the only option for Skomorokhov's plane is 39212056.)

[knusel]

Originally Posted by HGabor

Michael,

Tsapov's unit never fought over Hungary, therefore I never collected materials on them. As of the books: I do not want to judge anyone's work without deeper research (that I have no time for), so it is up to you what you do with them.... But the story of Maj. Krasnov is definitely fake in there.

Gabor

Good evening,

I've found Ivan Tsapov:
http://soviet-aces-1936-53.ru/abc/ch/tsapov.htm
8 La-5 kills only. Thus, no candidate for my list.

I'm still interested in the La-5 score of Ivan Georgievich Romanenko.
Can anybody who's proficient in Russian language please find it out here?:
http://airaces.narod.ru/winter/romanen.htm

Michael

[knusel]

Good afternoon,

had anybody ever tried to estimate how many kills all La-5's scored combined ?

Cheers,

Michael