Biplane fighter aces

Soviet Union

Leitenant Ivan Semenovich Kashirkin

1915 – 22 June 1944

Ivan Kashirkin was born in 1915.

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, serzhant Kashirkin served in 253 IAP flying Polikarpov I-153s. This unit initially served on the South-Western Front.

On 4 July, the I-153s from 253 IAP intercepted many German aircraft in the Kiev region and during the day, they made claims for three shared He 111s and three shared Bf 109s destroyed. These claims were shared among nine pilots including kapitan Vasiliy Mal’tsev, starshiy leitenant Boris Grebenkov, starshiy leitenant Semen Makeyev, leitenant Nikolay Abramchuk, leitenant Aleksandr Surkov and serzhant Kashirkin.

Kashirkin was posted away from 253 IAP to 263 IAP in October 1942.

In January 1943, he was posted to 522 IAP.

He made his last claim on 9 February 1943 when he shot down a Bf 109 during ”Operation Iskra” (12-30 January 1943).
522 IAP had been temporarily moved from the Kalinin Front to the Volkhov Front to take part in breaking the blockade of Leningrad.

He was posted from 522 IAP on 28 October 1943, when he was posted away for further officer training.

Leitenant Kashirkin was killed in a plane crash on 22 June 1944.

At the time of his death, Kashirkin was credited with 6 shared biplane victories and a total of 3.

Claims:
Kill no. Date Time Number Type Result Plane type Serial no. Locality Unit
  1941                
  04/07/41   1/9 He 111 Shared destroyed I-153   Kiev region 253 IAP
  04/07/41   1/9 He 111 Shared destroyed I-153   Kiev region 253 IAP
  04/07/41   1/9 He 111 Shared destroyed I-153   Kiev region 253 IAP
  04/07/41   1/9 He Bf 109 Shared destroyed I-153   Kiev region 253 IAP
  04/07/41   1/9 He Bf 109 Shared destroyed I-153   Kiev region 253 IAP
  04/07/41   1/9 He Bf 109 Shared destroyed I-153   Kiev region 253 IAP
  1942                
1 05/04/42   1 He 111 Destroyed LaGG-3   Bologoevsky air defence district 253 IAP
2 05/04/42   1 ”He 113” Destroyed LaGG-3   Bologoevsky air defence district 253 IAP
  24/06/42   1/2 Ju 88 Shared destroyed LaGG-3   Bologoevsky air defence district 253 IAP
  1943                
  15/01/43   1/2 Bf 109 Shared destroyed La-5   Volkhov Front - Operation Iskra 522 IAP
3 09/02/43   1 Bf 109 Destroyed La-5   Volkhov Front - Operation Iskra 522 IAP

Biplane victories: 6 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 3 and 8 shared destroyed.

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




Last modified 19 February 2021