the Highest Scored Soviet I-16 and I-15 Pilot?

[WhiteKnight]

Hi Folks,

can any of you tell me who r the highest scored soviet I-16 pilot?and who r the highest scored I-15 pilot?Which IAP?and How many scores?

Thanks!

[Christer Bergström]

Top scoring pilot on the I-15: Anatoliy Serov, 8 victories plus 7 or 8 shared. See:

http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/soviet_serov.htm

Top scoring pilot on the I-16: Vladimir Bobrov (237 IAP, 27 IAP, 129 GIAP, 104 GIAP), 21 personal and 32 shared victories on the I-16.

[WhiteKnight]

Originally Posted by Christer Bergström

Top scoring pilot on the I-15: Anatoliy Serov, 8 victories plus 7 or 8 shared. See:

http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/soviet_serov.htm

Top scoring pilot on the I-16: Vladimir Bobrov (237 IAP, 27 IAP, 129 GIAP, 104 GIAP), 21 personal and 32 shared victories on the I-16.

Thanks and i want to know who is the top scoring pilot on the I-15 in WWII.

Vladimir Bobrov ? this one?
http://airaces.narod.ru/spane/bobrov.htm ?
it seems he only got 20 shared victories ....
and i think 32 shared victories is too high......

[Leon]

http://www.aces.boom.ru/abc/b.htm
In here he has 24 shared.

[knusel]

Good evening Gentlemen,

I've found that very old and very interesting thread.
Maybe some of you want to join in revitalizing it.

The highest scoring I-16 pilot is either

• Ivan Pidtykan, 16,14 [12+10sh]
• or Sergei Gritsevets, 9+24sh (depending on the decimals of the shares)
• or Ivan Lakeev, 16+20sh (according to some sources).

The top I-15 pilot is Leopoldo Morquillas Rubio, probably 21 kills in the type.
Does anybody know when he died ?

Cheers,

Michael

[knusel]

Will we ever know the decimals of all of the shared kills of Sergei Gritsevets ?

Michael

[Flavio]

As far as I was able to read and understand from the book "Все асы Сталина 1936–1953" by Mihail Bykov (in my opinion the most reliable and accurate study on the subect), B.Safonov was Polikarpov I-16 top ace with official 14+5 victories. However, two of individual victories were in fact claimed as probable, even if this type of claim was not used and referred to by VVS. Second ranking is I. Pidtykan with 12+10.

Flavio

[knusel]

Good evening Flavio,

nice you join in.
According to Yourii Rybin Boris Safonov has 13,83 [13+5] I-16 kills which is the highest number of personal kills of any I-16 ace.
I wonder if it is possible to determine the I-16 top ace if the group kills are added to the personal kills as decimals.

Best greetings from Switzerland,

Michael

[Flavio]

Hi Michael,

referring to B.Safonov, I can add that Yuriy Rybin appear to be a very serious and scrupulous researcher. Apart from various articles, in 2018 he published a biographical book titled "Boris Safonov" (unfortunately only in Swedish!) where there is detailed list of Safonov's victory claims (see attached). The individual claims are 20 (14 obtained with I-16) but only one shared (1/2). Maybe the other shared victories are not quoted due to the high number of pilots involved and the consequent low effectiveness of Safonov himself obtaining them. The only difference with M. Bykov list is victory nr.4: 17/07/41 (23:00-23:45) according to Rybin, 18/07/41 according to Bykov.

Flavio

[Christer Bergström]

I published the Boris Safonov book at my publishing house Vaktel Books. In fact, I asked Yuriy Rybin to write the book.

It is a fantastic book and has received overwhelmingly positive reviews, such as:

"Soviet aviation history of the highest class… a top class book for those with an interest in aviation history!"

- Lars Gyllenhaal, military history writer.

"Gives an interesting insight into the often forgotten war in the Far North. Even for those familiar with the history of World War II, the depiction provides new and unexpected perspectives on the Soviet air force."
- Excerpt from the Swedish Library Service's review, reviewer Gunnar Skagerberg.

If there is a great interest in an English edition, we could do one.

But that would require many pre-orders.

Email me at:
vaktelforlag [at] gmail.com

https://vaktelforlag.se/produkt/boris-safonov/