Biplane fighter aces

Soviet Union

Major General Ivan Nikolayevich Kalabushkin HSU

23 January 1915 – 12 April 1985

Decorations
Date Decoration Note
26/02/42 Order of the Red Banner 1st
04/03/43 Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union No. 667
04/03/43 Order of Lenin  
23/12/44 Order of Aleksandr Nevsky  
11/03/85 Order of the Patriotic War, 1st Class  
??/??/?? Order of the Red Banner 2nd
??/??/?? Order of the Red Star 1st
??/??/?? Order of the Red Star 2nd

Ivan Kalabushkin was born in Spudni in the Vladimir area on 23 January 1915.

He joined the Red Army in 1936 and completed his pilot training at Voroshilovgrad (now Lugansk) military flying school between 1936-38.

At the time of the German invasion of Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, leitenant Kalabushkin served in 123 IAP of 10 SmAD (Combined Air Division) in the Kobrin-Pinsk area. The unit was at the time flying Polikarpov I-153 fighters.

On the first day of the invasion on 22 June 1941, he claimed a Bf 109 over Brest at sunset.

In October 1941, starshiy leitenant Kalabushkin was posted to 562 IAP of the Moscow PVO.

On 28 November, he shot down a He 111 near Dmitrov in the Moscow region.

During November, he had claimed three additional enemy aircraft.

He claimed a He 111 on 18 December.

He was decorated with Gold Star of Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin on 4 March 1942.

In 1943, he was promoted to kapitan and 1944 to Major.

Major Kalabushkin ended the war with 5 biplane victories and a total of 15.
These had been claimed during more than 200 combat sorties.

Kalabushkin remained in the VVS after World War II and graduated from the Army Flying Academy in 1949 and from the Army Flying Academy of the General Staff in 1958. He retired with the rank of major general in 1964.

Ivan Kalabushkin passed away in Leningrad on 12 April 1985.

Claims:
Kill no. Date Time Number Type Result Plane type Serial no. Locality Unit
  1941                
1 22/06/41 sunset 1 Bf 109 Destroyed I-153   Brest 123 IAP
2 23/06/41   1 Ju 88 Destroyed I-153   Pinsk 123 IAP
3 23/06/41   1 Ju 88 Destroyed I-153   Pinsk 123 IAP
4 28/07/41   1 Bf 109 Destroyed I-153   Yedrovo 123 IAP
5 31/07/41   1 Hs 126 Destroyed I-153   Bologoye 123 IAP
  05/11/41   1/3 Hs 126 Shared destroyed Yak-1   Lake Poletskoye 562 IAP
6 14/11/41   1 Bf 109 Destroyed Yak-1   Lake Trostyanskoye 562 IAP
  14/11/41   1/6 Me 115 Shared destroyed Yak-1   Lake Trostyanskoye 562 IAP
  14/11/41   1/6 Me 115 Shared destroyed Yak-1   Lake Trostyanskoye 562 IAP
  16/11/41   1/3 Bf 110 Shared destroyed Yak-1   Podolino 562 IAP
7 28/11/41   1 He 111 Destroyed Yak-1   Dmitrov 562 IAP
  30/11/41   1/2 Ju 88 Shared destroyed Yak-1   Lobnya 562 IAP
  04/12/41   1/3 Ju 88 Shared destroyed Yak-1   Lake Trostyanskoye 562 IAP
  18/12/41   1/3 He 111 Shared destroyed Yak-1   Pavlovskaya Sloboda 562 IAP
  1943                
  14/03/43   1/2 Ju 88 Shared destroyed Yak-1   Krushinniki 562 IAP

Biplane victories: 5 destroyed.
TOTAL: 7 and 8 shared destroyed.

Sources:
All aces of Stalin 1936-1953 – Mikhail Bykov, 2014
Ivan Nikolajevic Kalabuskin - Prve stihacie eso Velkej vlasteneckej vojny (Historie a plastikove modelarstvi) - Ondrej Repka, 1996
Pobedy sovetskich letcikov pervogo dnya vojny (Aerohobby No.1'94) - Nagornyj Gribkin, 1994 kindly provided by Leonid G. Bashkirov and 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 Yuri Shakhov.




Last modified 12 August 2021