Yemel’yan Kondrat was born on 26 July (or 8 August) 1911 in Kosari.

He joined the Red Army in 1932 and graduated from the Kachin Military Aviation Pilot School in 1933.
From October 1933 he served as a junior pilot in the 34 IAE (56 IAB of the Kiev Military District).
On 28 May 1936 he was awarded promoted to leitenant.

In October 1936 he went to Spain (arriving on 20 October) as a member of the first group of volunteers to fly in the Spanish Civil War, using the nom de guerre ’Konrad’.
In Spain, he served in the 1^a Escuadrilla, which was equipped with I-15s.

By 9 December, he was credited with 1 shared He 51.

In January 1937, two Chato flights commanded by Yevgeniy Yerlykin and Anton Kovalevskii flew south to Malaga. A third Soviet pilot, Kondrat, was also a member of one of the flights, but the remaining five pilots were Spanish.

On 2 February 1937, five remaining I-15s of the detachment from the Escuadrilla Rychagov (I-15) at Malaga flew out to explore the roads in the Roda-Burgo area. During the flight, they noticed three enemy fighters, identified as He 51s, flying from Seville to their airfield of Antequera (30km north of Malaga). They chased after them, catching them over the airfield. One of the Nationalist pilots turned towards the Republican fighters but all three were quickly shot down. The Nationalist pilot turning on them was shot down as a shared between leitenant Kondrat and Viktor Matyunin. Leitenant Nikolay Artemyev claimed the second in flames while the third was claimed by Yevgeniy Yerlykin, who reported that the combat started at 6,500 meters. Yerlykin’s I-15 was damaged in the combat.
The fifth pilot in the patrol was a Spanish pilot, who attacked one of the Heinkels head-on, but his I-15 was seriously damaged with one of the cylinders in the engine destroyed. He managed, however, to return to base.

Later on the same day, a shared SM.81 was claimed by leitenant Kondrat and capitán Alfonso Jiménez Bruguet over Malaga.

In mid-February, Yevgeniy Yerlykin and Kondrat were recalled from Malaga to the central theatre near Madrid, and the Spanish pilot Emilio Galeta was promoted to detachment commander.

Kondrat left Spain on 7 April 1937.
During his time in Spain, he claimed 3 and 3 shared victories flying the I-15. He took part in 180 operational sorties in Spain.

On 17 April 1937, he was promoted to starshiy leitenant.

From May to September 1937, he commanded a flight in the 34 IAE.
On 20 February 1938 he was promoted to kapitan.
From September 1937 to June 1938, he commanded a separate detachment in the 26 IAE.

He was awarded the medal ”XX Years of the Red Army” on 22 February 1938.

Then he was transferred to the Far East and from June to November 1938, he commanded an eskadrilya, then was assistant commander.

From 28 February 1938, he was CO of 18 IAP in Khabarovsk.

In August 1938, he took part in hostilities with the Japanese on Lake Khasan, where he made 16 sorties.

Kondrat was promoted to major on 4 November 1938.

On 22 November 1939, he left for Moscow to study at the Air Force Academy.

In December 1939, he was appointed commander of the 152 IAP.

On 2 January 1940, the regiment arrived at the front to participate in the Soviet-Finnish Winter War, but already on 6 January, Kondrat was appointed inspector for piloting techniques of the 9th Army Air Force.

He was promoted to polkovnik on 31 March 1940 and awarded a third Order of the Red Banner.

From April 1940, he was CO of 131 IAP.
Then, until May 1941, he studied at the operational department of the Air Force Engineering Academy. After graduation, he was appointed inspector of the Air Force Directorate of the North Caucasian Military District.

From December 1941, he was operational on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War being CO of 274 (737) IAP. This regiment operated on the South-Western Front and was equipped with LaGG-3s.

He left the regiment in February 1942, to become senior inspector of the Air Force of the Volkhov Front.

From 5 June 1942 to 2 April 1943, he commanded 2 GIAP (215 IAD), where he flew LaGG-3s and La-5s.

In a short period of time, he made 8 sorties, took part in 2 air battles, in which he personally shot down 4 enemy aircraft.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 1 May 1943, he was awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union (no. 3780) and the Order of Lenin.

On 1 June 1943, he was appointed commander of the 249 IAD (9th Air Army, 1st Far Eastern Front).

In the period from 9 August to 3 September 1945, polkovnik Kondrat took part in the Soviet-Japanese war.

Kondrat ended the war with 3 biplane victories and a total of 7.

After the end of hostilities, he continued to serve in the Air Force. He has held a number of high command posts. In the early 1950s, he was an advisor in China. In 1951 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. From January 1958 to October 1968, he was deputy head of the Kiev Higher Engineering Aviation Military School of the Air Force.

General-major Kondrat was placed in the reserve from 1968 and retired.

He lived in Kiev where he passed away on 16 August 2002.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1936
1	13/11/36	14:00-15:00	1	He 51	Destroyed	I-15		Madrid area	1a/26
2	??/??/36		1	He 51	Destroyed	I-15		Spain	1a/26
	1937
3	01/02/37	12:00	1	SM.81	Destroyed	I-15		Alhaurin de Grande (Malaga)	1a/26
	02/02/37		1/2	He 51	Shared destroyed	I-15		Antequera	1a/26
	02/02/37		1/2	SM.81	Shared destroyed	I-15		Malaga	1a/26
	05/02/37	morning	1/2	He 59	Shared destroyed	I-15		Malaga	1a/26
	1943
4	07/01/43		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	La-5		Sinyavino station	2 GIAP
5	23/01/43		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	La-5		S Worker's Settlement No. 6	2 GIAP
6	23/01/43		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	La-5		S Worker's Settlement No. 6	2 GIAP
7	23/01/43		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	La-5		SW Worker's Settlement No. 6	2 GIAP

Biplane victories: 3 and 3 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 7 and 3 shared destroyed.

Sources:
Air Aces Home Page - Jan Safarik
Air War over Spain - Jesus Salas Larrazabal, 1974 Ian Allan Ltd, Shepperton, Surrey, ISBN 0-7110-0521-4
All aces of Stalin 1936-1953 – Mikhail Bykov, 2014
Polikarpov I-15, I-16 and I-153 Aces - Mikhail Maslov, 2010 Osprey Publishing, Oxford, ISBN 978-1-84603-981-2
Soviet Aces 1936-1953
Soviet airmen in the Spanish civil war 1936-1939 - Paul Whelan, 2014 Schiffer Publishing Ltd, ISBN 978-0-7643-0
Soviet Fighter Pilots 1936-1953 - Mikhail Bykov
Spanish Republican Aces – Rafael A. Permuy López, 2012 Osprey Publishing, Oxford, ISBN 978-1-84908-668-4