Aleksey Artamonov was born on 24 March 1916 in Shajtanka in the Sverdlovsk area into a family of farmers.

He graduated in Kuntsevo (nowadays Kuntsevsky in the Moscow area). He worked as a mechanic and studied in the Kuntsevo aeroclub.

In 1939, he joined the Red Army and graduated as a pilot from the 1st Independent military aviation school “A. F. Myasnikova”.

In June 1941, Artamonov served in 168 IAP, 45 SmAD. This unit was at the time equipped with I-153s.
During the first few weeks of the war he flew 37 sorties.

On 29 July 1941, Artamonov led a flight of three fighters in an attack on sixteen “Junkers bombers” over the Ukraine. He claimed two shot down and his wingman claimed a third.

At 08:45 on 30 July, he intercepted a Hs126 from 1.(H)/23 in the Kiev area. The German reconnaissance aircraft spotted him and turned west. After 5 minutes, Artamonov caught up with it and opened fire. He wasn’t able to bring it down and thus “taran” ramming attack on it. The Hs126 crashed burning while Artamonov had been injured in the attack and was killed when his fighter also crashed.

At the time of his death, Artamonov was credited with a total of 3 biplane victories.

On 27 March 1942, he was posthumously awarded with the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. He was also decorated with the Order of Lenin.

Artamonov is buried in the village Plosko-Zabugskoe Olshansky in the Kirovograd area.
A street is named in his honour in Moscow.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1941
1	29/07/41		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	I-153		Ukraine	168 IAP
2	29/07/41		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	I-153		Ukraine	168 IAP
3	30/07/41	08:45	1	Hs126 (a)	Destroyed	I-153		Kiev area	168 IAP

Biplane victories: 3 destroyed.
TOTAL: 3 destroyed.
(a) Claimed in a “taran” ramming attack against a Hs126 from 1.(H)/23.

Sources:
Aeroram
Barbarossa – The Air Battle: July-December 1941 – Christer Bergström, 2007, Chevron Publishing Limited, ISBN 978-1-85780-270-2
Black Cross/Red Star Volume I - Christer Bergström and Andrey Mikhailov, 2000 Pacifica Military History, ISBN 0-935553-48-7
From Barbarossa to Odessa: Volume 1 – Dénes Bernád, Dmitriy Karlenko and Jean-Louis Roba, 2007 Ian Allan Publishing Ltd, ISBN 978-85780-273-3
Additional information kindly provided by Ondrej Repka and Yuri Shakhov.