8 August 1909 – 27 June 1941

Leonid Ivanov was born on 8 August 1909 in Kashirain the Moscow area.

After nine years of secondary school, he lived in Saratov and worked in the tram park.
From 1930, he worked as a milling machine operator in the “Red Proletarian” plant in Moscow.

After two courses in Engineering, he joined the Red Army in 1932.

He graduated from the 7th Stalingrad military aviation school pf pilots in 1935.

After graduation he served as a fighter pilots in the Far East and in the Far North.

Ivanov took part in the Winter War against Finland in 1939-40 and was decorated for this.

In June 1941, Starshiy Leytenant Ivanov served as an eskardrilya commander of the 147 IAP. This unit was based in the far north end of the Karelian Front, defending the harbours of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, equipped with Polikarpov I-153s.

On 25 June, he claimed a shared Ju88 with his wingman Leytenant Filimonov and another damaged Ju88 over Kandalaksha.

The next day he claimed a Bf110 and damaged a He111, again over Kandalaksha.

On the third day of continuous combat over Kandalaksha, he alone attacked seven Bf109s in the morning. He reportedly claimed three of them shot down before ramming a fourth in a “taran” attack and crashing to his death.
These losses can’t be verified with German sources.

On 22 July 1941, he was posthumously decorated with the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. He was also decorated with the Order of Lenin.

At the time of his death, Ivanov was credited with 5 biplane victories, these being claimed while flying the I-153.

Ivanov is buried in Africanda Apathitsky in the Murmansk Region. In Kandalaksha there is a memory board on him and a fishing trawler also carries his name.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1941
	25/06/41		½	Ju88	Shared destroyed	I-153		Kandalaksha	147 IAP
	25/06/41		1	Ju88	Damaged	I-153		Kandalaksha	147 IAP
1	26/06/41		1	Bf110	Destroyed	I-153		Kandalaksha	147 IAP
	26/06/41		1	He111	Damaged	I-153		Kandalaksha	147 IAP
2	27/06/41	a.m.	1	Bf109 (a)	Destroyed	I-153		Kandalaksha	147 IAP
3	27/06/41	a.m.	1	Bf109 (a)	Destroyed	I-153		Kandalaksha	147 IAP
4	27/06/41	a.m.	1	Bf109 (a)	Destroyed	I-153		Kandalaksha	147 IAP
5	27/06/41	a.m.	1	Bf109 (b)	Destroyed	I-153		Kandalaksha	147 IAP

Biplane victories: 5 and 1 shared destroyed, 2 damaged.
TOTAL: 5 and 1 shared destroyed, 2 damaged.
(a) Can’t be verified with German losses.
(b) Claimed in a “taran” ramming attack. Can’t be verified with German losses.

Sources:
Aeroram
Geroi lenigradskogo neba - 1984 Lenizdat kindly provided by Vladislav Arhipov
Stalin's Falcons - Tomas Polak and Christhoper Shores, 1999 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-902304-01-2