1917 - 27 January 1968

Dudin was born in 1917 in Sklepovo.

He joined the army in 1936 and graduated as a pilot from the Stalingrad military aviation school in 1938.

After graduating he served in the Far East.

When the war started, he served as military Commissar of the 29 IAP, 31 SmAD, on the Zapadnyi Front and this unit took part in the war from 7 July 1941. Previously they had served in the Far East but after the German attack of Soviet Union they were rushed to Europe.

On 28 July the squadron commander kapitan Aleksandr Tormozov and mladshiy leitenant Dudin were patrolling in the Velikiye Luki area, which necessitated the carriage of drop tanks, when they came under attack from four Bf 109s. Dudin claimed one of them but Tormozov’s left drop tank was set on fire. He dived away to jettison it and the remaining three Bf 109s concentrated on Dudin. Tormozov, after succeeding in jettisoning his drop tanks, returned to the attack and shot down another Bf 109 and was able to return to base. Dudin went on to down a third by ramming it head-on and manage to parachute safely onto the Russian lines.
It also transpired, when the wreckage was found, that they had also destroyed the fourth and last of the assailants.

On 22 October, Dudin was awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin for this combat.

He was wounded in February 1942 but returned to duty and served as an instructor at air schools until the end of the war.

Dudin ended the war with 2 biplane victories.

After the war he served as chief of the flying units of the Astrakhan and Krasnodar aero clubs and chief of Orel aero club.

He left the army in 1958 with the rank of Podpolkovnik to live in Krasnodar.
During his career he had also been decorated with the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of the Red Star.

Dudin passed away on 27 January 1968.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1941
1	28/07/41		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	I-153		Velikiye Luki area	29 IAP
2	28/07/41		1	Bf 109 (a)	Destroyed	I-153		Velikiye Luki area	29 IAP
	28/07/41		1	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	I-153		Velikiye Luki area	29 IAP

Biplane victories: 2 and 1 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 2 and 1 shared destroyed.
(a) Claimed in a “taran”-attack.

Sources:
Aeroram
Polikarpov’s Biplane Fighters - Yefim Gordon and Keith Dexter, 2002 Midland Publishing, ISBN 1-85780-141-5
Soviet Fighter Pilots 1936-1953 - Mikhail Bykov
Additional information kindly provided by Yuri Shakhov.