Viktor Karelin was born in 1921.

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, starshii leitenant Karelin served in 2 IAP flying Polikarpov I-153s.

Karelin was posted away from 2 IAP in September 1941.

In February 1942, he was posted to 133 IAP. With this regiment he flew I-153s and Yak-7Bs.

On 23 February 1942, he was decorated with the Order of the Red Banner and he received a second Order of the Red Banner on 17 October 1942.

Leitenant Karelin didn’t return from a combat mission on 3 December 1942.

At the time of his death, Karelin was credited with 2 biplane victories and a total of 4.
These had been claimed during 145 combat missions and 32 air combats (as of 24 April 1942).

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1941
1	10/08/41		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	I-153		South-Western Front	2 IAP
	1942
	24/03/42		1/?	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	I-153		Crimean Front	133 IAP
	24/03/42		1/?	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	I-153		Crimean Front	133 IAP
2	09/04/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	I-153		Crimean Front	133 IAP
3	29/10/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-7B		Kalinin Front	133 IAP
4	29/10/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-7B		Kalinin Front	133 IAP

Biplane victories: 2 and 2 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 4 and 2 shared destroyed.

Sources:
All aces of Stalin 1936-1953 – Mikhail Bykov, 2014
Soviet Fighter Pilots 1936-1953 - Mikhail Bykov