Info on Soviet ace Vladimir Levitan

[Blue Devil]

Hi, I'd like to find out whatever information I can on a Vladimir Levitan, a fighter pilot apparently with the 264, 170 and 166 IAP and the 88 GIAP, and it was suggested that I try here. Someone else suggested he flew I-16s, Lagg-3s, La-5s and La-7s at the end of the war. Does anyone know anything else about him, particulary what kind of makings his plane(s) may have had?

Thanks for any help you can give!

BD (Michael)

[John Beaman]

From Stalin’s Falcons by Tomas Polak and Christopher Shores:

Born 1 May 1918 in Zherbets, a settlement near Zaporozhe, he joined the Army in 1937, graduating from the Sevastopol Military Air College. On operations from June 1941, he was with the 116th IAP in 1942 flying LaGG 3s. By the Spring of 1943, when the unit re-equipped with La-5s, he was a Kapitan, leading the 1st eskadrilya. Action over Kursk during the summer brought the unit Guards classification when it was renumbered the 88th GuIAP. In summer 1944 the unit operated on the 1st Ukrainian Front, where by June he had completed 291 stories, claiming 23 victories (4 shared). He was to add at least one further claim before the end of hostilities. He remained on active service until 1959, when he retired as a Polkovnik, Living in Zaporozhe thereafter.

Decorations: HSU (26-Oct-44), ORB twice; Order of Kutuzov, 3rd Class; OPW, 1st Class, ORS