Il-2 pilots with 10 or more aerial kills

[knusel]

Good afternoon Gentlemen,

I really look forward to the book of Mister Bykov.
However, it doesn't include Shturmovik aces, does it ?
In STALIN'S FALCONS by Polak I found 4-5 Il-2 pilots with 10 or more aerial kills (shared kills counted as decimals):

• Ilya Mospanov, 21 kills plus 16 aircraft on the ground
• Alexei Golimbiyevskii, 12 kills
• Georgii Parshin, 10 kills
• Georgii Popov, 10 kills
• Nikolai Maximov, 6 kills plus 12 shared (indicated as "...probably the highest total claimed by any Soviet assault pilot" by Polak)

Mospanov's total seems hard to believe for me because he was killed in combat already on 25Jul1942 after only 69 sorties.

Cheers,

Michael

[focusfocus]

We can add:

Vladimir I.Streltchenko=13(1+12 shared)
Otari G.Goltchine=16(4+12 shared)
Victor A.Kondakov=15(5+10 shared)
Otari G.Tchetchelashvili=15(5+10 shared)
Vasilij I.Kozlovskij=12(+68 tanks,530 vehicles,5 locomotives,67 waggons)

michel

[focusfocus]

to add

Yefim A.Mikhalenkov=12

Michel

[knusel]

Hello Michel,

nice you join in.
I did not include Strelchenko and Chechelashvili because I prefer to count shares as decimals.
Is Otari G.Goltchine connected to Ivan Konstantinovich Golchin (2+14 kills) ?
I did not know that Kondakov has also 10 shared kills.
I did not know Vasilij I.Kozlovskij. Impressive record.
It was not my intention to omit Mikhalenkov. Thanks for adding.

Michael

[knusel]

Good morning,

I also found Nikolai Chuvin, 11 aerial victories.

Michael

[knusel]

Addendum:
STALIN'S EAGLES gives the following ShAP pilots with 10 kills minimum

• Nikolai Globin, 10 kills
• Mikhail Odintsov, 12 kills
• Alexandr Osipenko, 17+34sh kills
• Nikolai Popov 1+35sh kills
• Mikhail Ryabshevskii, 15 kills

Cheers,

Michael

[knusel]

...I should not forget the greatest Il-2 pilot of them all.
Aleksandr Jefimov, 5+2sh kills
http://aces.safarikovi.org/victories/sssr-bomb.html
I just finished working through his biography written by Oleg Rastrenin which was published in AVIONS #163. Highly recommendable !

Cheers,

Michael

[Edward L. Hsiao]

Gentlemen,

Wasn't there a topic a few years ago on this forum about how effective the Il-2 Shturmovik was against ground targets and armor? I also never heard of Vasilij I. Kozlovskij and thought his ground kill scores to be questionable.

Edward L. Hsiao

[knusel]

Good morning Edward,

yes, I think it's so much more difficult to tell if a tank that has been hit is "destroyed" or not than it is to define an airkill.
http://aces.safarikovi.org/victories/sssr-tank.html
Where there any fixed criteria for the former ?

Have a nice Wednesday,

Michael

[Edward L. Hsiao]

That list of Soviet tank killers was based on Soviet sources and not believed at all by a lot of people of the world. I for one didn't believe that list. Victor Golubjev's vehicle kills of 875 is not right. Very few German tank crews and truck and other vehicle drivers had ever given reports about how effective Soviet ground assault planes were.

Sincerely,

Edward L. Hsiao