Il’ya Kaynov was born in 1911.

On 8 February 1940, the 5./7 IAP (15 pilot led by kapitan A. Ye. Mol’bin) arrived from 18 IAP of Far East Army Corps (DVK) after a departure on 26 January to take part in the Finnish-Soviet Winter War. Later also personnel of 70 IAP and 22 IAP (which both had fought in the Khalkhin Gol-incident in August 1939) arrived.
Kapitan Mol’bin was shot down by AA-fire at Tikkola and killed on 14 February, when escorting SB-bombers. Starshiy leitenant Iosef Geibo took over 5./7 IAP, which received I-153s from 17 February.

7 March 1940 was another day of heavy claiming from 7 IAP when they claimed seven bombers and one fighter.
Leitenant Aleksandr Moshin (credited to him as a single destroyed by Bykov), Sayenko and Malyshev of 2./7 IAP (I-16) claimed a shared Blenheim over Koivisto peninsula.
Viktor Skryabin of 2./7 IAP (I-16) claimed a Blenheim over Vilaniemi.
Kuzmenko of 5./7 IAP (I-153) claimed a fighter.
Golubev and Foma Tikhomirov of 5./7 IAP (I-153) claimed a shared Blenheim.
Kaynov and Balashov of 5./7 IAP (I-153) claimed a shared Blenheim.
Kaynov later claimed a second shared Blenheim with Aleksey Rybalov (from the same unit).
Major Aleksandr Ketov (credited to him as a single destroyed by Bykov), Vladimir Semenishin and Vavilov of 1./7 IAP (I-16) claimed a shared Blenheim.
Starshiy leitenant Fedor Shinkarenko of 4./7 IAP (I-16) claimed a Blenheim.
To add to the confusion did starshiy leitenant Dyachenko of 25 IAP (I-153) claim a shared Blenheim at kv. 093 (28. AK sector) together with 7 IAP but it’s unclear with whom.
Two Finnish Blenheims were in fact lost in the Viborg area when LeR 4 attacked targets on the ice of the Gulf of Vyborg and on the shore on 24 sorties during the day.
Blenheim BL-144 of LLv 42 was lost at 07:30. The pilot kersantti Toivo Hyytiäinen and gunner kersantti Eelis Turunen were killed while the observer vänrikki Kauko Nykänen parachuted to become a PoW.
Blenheim BL-122 of LLv 46 was lost at 12:15. The pilot luutnantti Niilo Hakla parachuted wounded while the observer luutnantti Pekka Salokoski and gunner kersantti Arvi Pakkala both were KIA.

On 8 March Finnish Blenheims from LeR 4 kept hammering the Soviet troops at the Gulf of Vyborg on 14 bombing missions while the fighters of LLv 24 flew 19 strafing missions. No Finnish aircraft were lost during the day.
It seems that the fighters from 7 IAP continued to intercept the Finnish aircraft and they claimed four Blenheims during the day.
Komissar Nikolay Antonov, major Iosef Khotelev and Pavlov (I-16s) claimed one Blenheim.
Georgiy Glotov and mladshiy leitenant Nikolay Ivanov of 3./7 IAP (I-153) claimed one Blenheim each.
Kaynov, Yevgeniy Petrov and leitenant Romanov of 5./7 IAP (I-153) claimed a shared Blenheim.

Kaynov ended the Winter War with 3 shared biplane victories.

When Germany attacked the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, Kaynov served in 92 IAP. This unit was equipped with Polikarpov I-153s.
Kaynov left 92 IAP already in July.

Between October 1941 and March 1943, he served in 522 IAP flying LaGG-3s and La-5s with this unit.

On 213 January 1942, Kaynov claimed 522 IAP’s first victory when he shot down a Bf 109 between Shevelevo and Gorodok together with two other pilots.

He served in 1 GIAP between March 1943 until October 1944 flying Yak-7s and Yak-1s with this unit.

He left the front in October 1944 for training.

Kaynov ended the war with 3 shared biplane victories and a total of 6. These being claimed during 224 sorties.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1940
	07/03/40		1/2	Blenheim (a)	Shared destroyed	I-153		Gulf of Vyborg	5./7 IAP
	07/03/40		1/2	Blenheim (a)	Shared destroyed	I-153		NW Kheitalahti, Gulf of Viborg	5./7 IAP
	08/03/40		1/3	Blenheim (b)	Shared destroyed	I-153		Gulf of Vyborg	5./7 IAP
	1942
	23/01/42		1/3	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	LaGG-3		Shevelevo - Gorodok	522 IAP
	25/01/42		1/3	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	LaGG-3		Mostki	522 IAP
	26/01/42		1/6	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	LaGG-3		Ol'khovka - Spasskaya Polist' - Mostki	522 IAP
	26/01/42		1/6	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	LaGG-3		Ol'khovka - Spasskaya Polist' - Mostki	522 IAP
	30/03/42		1/3	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	LaGG-3		Myasnoy Bor	522 IAP
	30/03/42		1/3	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	LaGG-3		Myasnoy Bor	522 IAP
	1943
	14/01/43		1/6	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	La-5		Rabochiy poselok No. 1, Operation Iskra	522 IAP
	15/01/43		1/6	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	La-5		Rabochiy poselok No. 1, Operation Iskra	522 IAP
1	15/01/43		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	La-5		Rabochiy poselok No. 1, Operation Iskra	522 IAP
2	23/01/43		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	La-5		E Rabochiy poselok No. 1, Operation Iskra	522 IAP
3	09/02/43		1	Fw 190	Destroyed	La-5		W Nizhnyaya Naziya, Operation Iskra	522 IAP
4	27/07/43		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Yak-7, Yak-1		SE Bolkho'	1 GIAP
5	31/07/43		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	Yak-7, Yak-1		Krasnaya Gora	1 GIAP
6	17/10/43		1	Fw 190	Destroyed	Yak-1		Khvoshno	1 GIAP

Biplane victories: 3 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 6 and 11 shared destroyed.
(a) 7 and 25 IAP totally claimed 7 bombers and 1 fighter without losses. 2 Blenheims from LeR 4 were lost.
(b) 7 IAP claimed 4 Blenheims during the day. These claims can’t be verified with Finnish records.

Sources:
All aces of Stalin 1936–1953 – Mikhail Bykov, 2014
Red Stars 7 - Talvisota Ilmassa - The Winter War In the Air - Carl-Fredrik Geust, 2011 Apali Oy, Tampere, ISBN 978-952-5877-04-5
Soviet airmen in the Spanish civil war 1936-1939 - Paul Whelan, 2014 Schiffer Publishing Ltd, ISBN 978-0-7643-0
Suomen Ilmavoimat part II – 1928-40 – Kalevi Keskinen and Kari Stenman, 2006, ISBN 952-99743-0-2