Top Soviet Fighter Ace of the Winter War

[MikeFox]

Hello and Happy New Year,

I am trying to determine who was the top ranking Soviet fighter pilot during the Winter War of 1939-1940 between the Soviet Union and Finland. I have searched my on personal resources ( Stalin's Eagles, Stalin's Falcons, the Osprey series on Soviet aces and the internet) and have not been able to determine exactly who was the top scorer. Some sources say no Soviet pilot even reached ace status during the war with several pilots coming close with four victories while one web site states that Lieutenant A. D. Bulayev scored 9 victories and and Lieutenant V. V. Yefremov 5.

Can anyone clarify the situation?

Thank you,
Mike

[MB]

http://avia-hobby.ru/publ/sovaces/sovaces_3640.html

/on the bottom of page/

[kolya1]

Hi,
As I'm new to this forum, I hope you will forgive me if some of the info I'm posting here has already been evocated or formally denied elsewhere...

I've found sources that differ somewhat from what is given on the website you quoted in this thread (dunno which one is more reliable...), according to these the highest claiming soviet pilots of this conflict were :

- A.D. (Alexandr Dmitrievitch) Bulaev, I-16 pilot who claimed 9 kills in 20 air combats (the website mentions 2+3 shared...), later, with 159 IAP he claimed 15+8 shared in WWII, before being KIA on 17/05/1943.

- V.V. (Vasili Vasilevitch) Efremov, I-15 pilot who claimed 7 kills (including 5 fokker D-XXI, 1 Bristol Bulldog, 1 Bristol Bleinheim), later he claimed at least 10 (12 ?) kills (including a number of shared ones) with 133 IAP in WWII, and survived the war.

Well, that's what I have but this is still not very detailed, and would need to be cross-checked with other sources...