Viktor Ivanov was born on 29 December 1919 in the Pskov village of Anashkino. He lived in Leningrad and joined the army in 1939 and graduated from the Chuguyiyevsk Military Air School in 1940.

He started the war in June 1941 as a mladshiy leytenant in the 147 IAP and was engaged in the defence of the northern ports of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk until January 1942.

The I-153s from 147 IAP was in combat with Bf 110s over Lutto on 26 October 1941 and mladshiy leytenant Ivanov claimed one shared together with three other pilots. It is possible that this claim was shared with Petr Berlov since it’s known that he claimed a shared during the day.
This claim can’t be verified with Luftwaffe records.

In March, he was transferred to 768 IAP flying Hurricanes and Kittyhawks with this unit.

He flew circa 200 sorties with the 147 IAP and the 768 IAP before being transferred to the 910 IAP in August 1942. With this unit, he fought over Stalingrad, Kursk, Ukraina and Germany.

On 9 October 1943, the 910 IAP was renamed the 148 GIAP.

During the spring of 1944 Ivanov became Komesk (commander) of an eskadrilya in the 148 GIAP operating over the 2nd Belorussian Front. At this time, he had the rank of Kapitan.

On 19 March 1944, kapitan Ivanov led his unit against a Ju 88 formation in the Dombrovitse region. The unit shot down 10 of the Junkers before trying to ram the rest with the German aircraft running for their lifes. The commanding officer of the 6th Army witnessed this action and personally congratulated Ivanov.
Ivanov claimed three destroyed (one over Lyudynya) and a third shared with an unknown pilot while kapitan Nikolay Glushkov claimed three more (one of the over Svartsevitse).

By July 1944, he had flown 556 sorties and claimed 18 victories (4 shared) in 33 engagements.

On 22 August 1944, he was decorated with the Gold Medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union (# 4102) and the Order of Lenin.
When he was decorated with the HSU and according to the material compiled in April 1944 to receive this award, he was at the time credited with 14 victories and 4 shared but this contradicts official records and it seems that to give additional weight to his achievements when presented with the Soviet Union’s highest decoration, some of his shared victories was retroactively credited to him as personal.

Ivanov was also decorated with the Order of the Red Banner (29 November 1941, 14 February 1943 and 14 February 1944), the Order of Aleksandr Nevsky (27 March 1944), the Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class (11 March 1985) and the Order of the Red Star during his career.

Ivanov ended the war as a mayor with 1 shared biplane victory and a total of 5 claimed in more than 600 missions.

After the war, he remained in the Air Force and attended a regimental commander’s course.

Ivanov retired from active service in 1959 as a polkovnik and settled in Leningrad.

Ivanov passed away on 24 August 1997.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1941
	26/10/41		1/4	Bf 110 (a)	Shared destroyed	I-153		Lutto	147 IAP
	1942
	18/05/42		1/3	Ju 87	Shared destroyed	Hurricane		Murmansk area	768 IAP
	18/05/42		1/3	Ju 87	Shared destroyed	Hurricane		Murmansk area	768 IAP
	26/05/42		1/4	Ju 87	Shared destroyed	Hurricane		Murmansk area	768 IAP
	26/05/42		1/4	Ju 87	Shared destroyed	Hurricane		Murmansk area	768 IAP
	26/05/42		1/4	Ju 87	Shared destroyed	Hurricane		Murmansk area	768 IAP
	29/06/42		1/3	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	Kittyhawk		W Minkino	768 IAP
	07/07/42		1/2	Ju 87	Shared destroyed	Kittyhawk		W Murmansk	768 IAP
1	05/08/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Kittyhawk			768 IAP
	06/08/42		1/2	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	Kittyhawk		W Solntsevo	768 IAP
	1943
2	17/12/43		1	Fw 190	Destroyed	Yak-9			148 GIAP
	1944
3	19/03/44		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Yak-9		Lyudynya	148 GIAP
4	19/03/44		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Yak-9		Dombrovitse	148 GIAP
5	19/03/44		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Yak-9		Dombrovitse	148 GIAP
	19/03/44		1/2	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	Yak-9		Dombrovitse	148 GIAP
	26/03/44		1/2	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	Yak-9		Lubin	148 GIAP
	02/07/44		1/2	He 111	Shared destroyed	Yak-9		Lubin	148 GIAP

Biplane victories: 1 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 5 and 12 shared destroyed.
(a) This claim can’t be verified with Luftwaffe records.

Sources:
All aces of Stalin 1936–1953 – Mikhail Bykov, 2014
Sovetskiye asy - Nikolay Bodrikhin, 1998 kindly provided by Ondrej Repka
Soviet Aces 1936-1953
Soviet Fighter Pilots 1936-1953 - Mikhail Bykov
Stalin's Eagles - Hans D. Seidl, 1998 Schiffer Publishing, ISBN 0-7643-0476-3
Stalin's Falcons - Tomas Polak and Christhoper Shores, 1999 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-902304-01-2
Additional information kindly provided by Ondrej Repka.