Nikolay Kovalev was born in 1917.

Kovalev to part in the battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939, where he flew I-15bis and I-153s in 56 IAP. It seems that he didn’t make any claims during this conflict. However, his autobiography states that he took part in 20 air combats during which he claimed five Japanese aircraft but this isn’t confirmed by any archival documents.

In 1939-1940, he took part in the Soviet-Finnish Winter War, flying I-153s in 38 IAP. He didn’t make any claims during this period.

In August 1941, he was posted to 348/743 IAP, flying I-153s with this unit.

On 30 March 1942, leitenant Kovalev and starshiy leitenant Sergey Petukhov claimed a shared He 111 in the Chelochik area on the Crimean.

He left 348/743 IAP in May 1942 and in August, he was posted to 822 IAP, flying LaGG-3s with this unit.

In April 1943, he left 822 IAP when he was posted to 907 IAP. With this unit, he flew La-5s.

He left 907 IAP in May 1944 when he was posted to 495 IAP. He flew La-5s with this unit but didn’t make any claims.

In July 1944, he left 495 IAP and was posted to 960 IAP. He flew Yak-7s and Yak-9s with this unit but didn’t make any claims.

Kovalev ended the war with 2 biplane victories and a total of 9.
These had been claimed during 370 combat missions and 82 air combats.
During his career, he had been decorated with the Order of the Red Banner (three times), the Order of the Patriotic War and the Order of the Red Star (three times).

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1942
	30/03/42		1/2	He 111	Shared destroyed	I-153		Chelochik area	743 IAP
1	08/05/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	I-153		Kerch	743 IAP
2	09/05/42		1	He 111	Destroyed	I-153		Kerch	743 IAP
	17/09/42		1/3	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	LaGG-3		Kapustino-Naurskaya	822 IAP
3	10/10/42		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	LaGG-3		E Naurskaya	822 IAP
	30/10/42		1/2	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	LaGG-3		Chikola	822 IAP
	1943
4	22/05/43 (a)		1	Enemy bomber	Destroyed	La-5		Kursk	907 IAP
5	22/05/43 (a)		1	Enemy bomber	Destroyed	La-5		Kursk	907 IAP
6	02/06/43		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	La-5		Konevo-Volobuyevo	907 IAP
	1944
7	09/02/44		1	Ju 52/3m	Destroyed	La-5		SE Arbuzovo station	907 IAP
8	09/02/44		1	Ju 52/3m	Destroyed	La-5		Cherepin	907 IAP
9	11/02/44		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	La-5		Kozhmat	907 IAP

Biplane victories: 2 and 1 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 9 and 3 shared destroyed.
(a) Claimed during the period from 22 May to 2 June 1943.

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