Biplane fighter aces

Soviet Union

Major Aleksey Kondrat'yevich Korochantsev
(in some sources the name is written as ”Karachantsev”)

1909 –

Aleksey Korochantsev was born in 1909.

Kapitan Korochantsev served in the 3rd eskadrilya of 49 IAP during the Soviet-Finnish Winter War in 1939-40 between January and March 1940. This regiment was at the time equipped with Polikarpov I-153s.

At 16:00 on 20 January 1940, kapitan I. I. Popov, kapitan Korochantsev and starshiy leitenant F. M. Fatkulin of the 3rd eskadrilya of 49 IAP claimed two shot down Finnish Fokker C.Xs 2-3km south-east of Nietjärvi.
These losses can’t be verified with Finnish records.

On 26 February 1940, LLv 44 lost one Blenheim on a reconnaissance mission north of Lake Ladoga when BL-199 force-landed at Syskyjärvi at 09:40. The crew of four, pilot kersantti Unto Oksala, observer luutnantti Andreas Platan, gunner vänrikki Oiva Hyttinen and mechanic Erkki Jaatinen were safe.
They had been attacked by an I-153 from 3rd eskadrilya of 49 IAP flown by kapitan Korochantsev, who reported this claim at 08:15 between Syskyjärvi-Virakkalampi.

When the Winter War ended, Korochantsev had flown 76 combat missions.

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, major Korochantsev served in 91 IAP.

In July he left 91 IAP and was transferred to 20 IAP.

He left 20 IAP in August 1941 and in October the same year, he was posted to 427 IAP.

In March 1942, he left 427 IAP and was posted back to 91 IAP in June 1942.

In December 1942, he was wounded in combat and hospitalised.
After recovery, he didn’t perform any more combat missions.

He took part in the Soviet-Japanese war between August and September 1945. He served in 940 IAP, which was equipped with Yak-9s and took part in only 1 combat mission.

Korochantsev ended the war with 1 biplane victory and a total of 4.
These had been claimed during 104 combat missions (as of 11 July 1942).

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1940
	20/01/40	16:00	1/3	Fokker C.X (a)	Shared destroyed	I-153		2-3km SE Nietjärvi	3/49 IAP
	20/01/40	16:00	1/3	Fokker C.X (a)	Shared destroyed	I-153		2-3km SE Nietjärvi	3/49 IAP
1	26/02/40	09:40	1	Blenheim (b)	Destroyed	I-153		Syskyjärvi	3/49 IAP
	1942
	17/06/42		1/2	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	Yak-1			91 IAP
	28/06/42		1/2	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	Yak-1			91 IAP
2	05/07/42		1	He 115	Destroyed	Yak-1			91 IAP
3	07/07/42		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Yak-1			91 IAP
	07/07/42		1/2	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	Yak-1			91 IAP
	09/07/42		1/2	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	Yak-1			91 IAP
4	09/07/42		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Yak-1			91 IAP

Biplane victories: 1 and 2 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 4 and 6 shared destroyed.
(a) Claim can’t be verified with Finnish records.
(b) BL-199 of LLv 44 shot down; the crew was safe.

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 Aces 1936-1953
Soviet Fighter Pilots 1936-1953 - Mikhail Bykov