Vasiliy Bukhteev was born in 1914.

He graduated from flight school in 1937.

Mladshiy leytenant Bukhteev took part in the conflict against the Japanese in Khalkhin Gol during 1939 where he flew Polikarpov I-16s in 70 IAP.

Fleet aviation pilots (ten from VVS KBF and five from the Black Sea Fleet regiments) had been selected and sent by train to fight in Mongolia. Commander of it was mayor Novikov and among the pilots were future aces kapitan Aleksey Antonenko and Petr Brinko (both from KBF). They had arrived in the middle of June and been dispersed among the fighter eskadrilyas. In the first half of August they were all gathered again and after the recommendation from Gritsevets they reformed as a “fleet” eskadrilya with his unit’s I-153s.

On 27 August, ten I-16s from 70 IAP intercepted Japanese bombers reported as LB-98s (most possibly light Ki-36 bombers from 15th Sentai) and claimed two shot down in the Lake Yanhu area. Three of the pilots taking part were kapitan Aleksey Antonenko, leitenant Mikhail Nikitin and mladshiy leitenant Bukhteev. Starshiy leitenant Vitaliy Belyakov was also probably part of this intercept even if he’s only credited with one shared bomber on this date. Kapitan Petr Glebov is credited with a bomber shot down during the day.
A Ki-30 (s/n 127) from 10th Sentai was shot down by enemy fighters at ”Uzuru-sui” and the crew was KIA; pilot Staff Sergeant Takeo Okiura and gunner Corporal Isao Azetsu.

When Bukhteev left Mongolia in September 1939, he had flown 13 combat missions and taken part in two air combats.

Bukhteev took part in the Finnish-Soviet Winter War where he flew Polikarpov I-153s in the 10th Aviation Brigade (10 Abr-KBF) between December 1939 and March 1940.

On 7 February, he was decorated with the Order of the Red Banner, which was followed by a Medal ”for bravery” on 22 February.

He claimed a ”Spitfire” on 2 March.
However, according to operational documents from this combat, he possibly claimed two aircraft as shared with another pilot.

During the Winter War, he flew 65 combat missions.

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, starshiy leytenant Bukhteev served in 71 IAP-KBF, flying Yak-1s with this unit.
71 IAP-KBF was part of the Baltic Fleet.

On 14 September 1941, he was shot down and killed in air combat.

At the time of his death, Bukhteev was credited with 1 biplane victory and a total of 2.
From June 1941, he had flown approximately another 33 combat missions.

On 16 December 1941, he was decorated with a second post-humous Order of the Red Banner.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1939
	27/08/39		1/10	Ki-36 (a)	Shared destroyed	I-16		Lake Yanhu area	70 IAP
	27/08/39		1/10	Ki-36 (a)	Shared destroyed	I-16		Lake Yanhu area	70 IAP
	1940
1	02/03/40		1	”Spitfire”	Destroyed	I-153			10 Abr-KBF
	1941
2	22/07/41		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Yak-1			71 IAP-KBF
	26/07/41		1/2	Hs 126	Shared destroyed	Yak-1			71 IAP-KBF

Biplane victories: 1 destroyed.
TOTAL: 2 and 3 shared destroyed.
(a) One Ki-30 (s/n 127) from 10th Sentai shot down (crew KIA).

Sources:
All aces of Stalin 1936-1953 – Mikhail Bykov, 2014
Soviet Aces 1936-1953
Soviet Fighter Pilots 1936-1953 - Mikhail Bykov