Mikhail Gladkikh was born in 1912.

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, leitenant Gladkikh served in 17 IAP, which was equipped with Polikarpov I-153s. This unit served on the South-Western Front.

On 24 June, he was involved in combat with Bf 109 and he claimed one and one shared with another pilot before he was seriously wounded.
He made an emergency landing and was sent to hospital.
After this combat, he never returned to 17 IAP.

He was decorated with the Order of Lenin on 2 August 1941.

In March 1943, he was posted to 240 IAP and with this unit he flew La-5s.

Gladkikh didn’t return from a combat mission on 13 March 1943.

At the time of his death, Gladkikh was credited with 1 biplane victory and a total of 3.
These had been claimed during 8 combat missions and 2 air combats.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1941
1	24/06/41		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	I-153		South-Western Front	17 IAP
	24/06/41		1/2	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	I-153		South-Western Front	17 IAP
	1943
2	13/03/43		1	He 111	Destroyed	La-5		Voronezh Front	240 IAP
3	13/03/43		1	Bf 110	Destroyed	La-5		Voronezh Front	240 IAP

Biplane victories: 1 and 1 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 3 and 1 shared destroyed.

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