Dmitriy Kovtyulev was born in Boyalovo on 7 November 1918.

He joined the Red Army in 1938 and graduated from Odessa Military Aviation School of Pilots in 1939.

He took part in the campaign in Western Ukraine in 1939.

In 1939-1940, he took part in the Soviet-Finnish Winter War.

In June 1941, mladshiy leitenant Kovtyulev served in 91 IAP, flying I-153s with this unit.

On 3 July, the I-153s from 91 IAP clashed with Bf 109s. Mladshiy leitenant Konstantin Pavlov claimed four shared Bf 109s over Shepetovka together with mladshiy leitenant Grigoriy Murzin and four other pilots. One of the shared was also credited to mladshiy leitenant Kovtyulev.
Mladshiy leitenant Kovtyulev claimed an additional Bf 109 over Slavuta while mladshiy leitenant Grigoriy Murzin also claimed an additional Bf 109 during the day but at an unknown place.

On 24 July, mladshiy leitenant Kovtyulev, mladshiy leitenant Konstantin Pavlov and mladshiy leitenant Nikolay Pavlov claimed a shared He 113 (probably a Bf 109) over Fursy together with four other pilots.

He was posted to 20 IAP in July 1941, continuing flying I-153s with this unit.

He left 20 IAP on 5 September 1941.

On 20 January 1942, he was posted to 518 IAP, flying Yak-1s with this unit.

In a dogfight against ten Bf 109s on 15 February, starshiy leitenant Kovtyulev, CO 1./518 IAP, first claimed one of them shot down before being shot down and severely wounded.
It is possible that they had been in combat with the Bf 109Fs of II./JG 51 since they are the only Luftwaffe unit claiming fighters on the eastern front on this date when Leutnant Herbert Puschmann of 4./JG 51 claimed two ‘I-61s’ at 12:47. This unit was at the time based at Bryansk.

Kovtyulev didn’t take part in any active flying after this combat.

After a long treatment for his injuries he became adjutant of 2./91 IAP.

He was decorated with the Gold Star of the Soviet Union (no. 825) and the Order of Lenin on 30 January 1943.

Due to health reasons, kapitan Kovtyulev was dismissed from active service in February 1944 and placed in the Reserve.

Kovtyulev ended the war with 4 biplane victories and a total of 5.
These had been claimed during 141 combat missions and 44 air combats.

Kovtyulev died on 1 October 1945 and he is buried in Nevel.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1941
1	23/06/41		1	He 111	Destroyed	I-153		N Berdiyevka	91 IAP
	26/06/41		1/2	Hs 126	Shared destroyed	I-153		Ostrog	91 IAP
	26/06/41		1/2	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	I-153		Ostrog	91 IAP
	02/07/41		1/3	Hs 126	Shared destroyed	I-153		Ostrog	91 IAP
2	03/07/41		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	I-153		Slavuta	91 IAP
	03/07/41		1/6	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	I-153		Shepetovka	91 IAP
3	09/07/41		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	I-153		Korosten	91 IAP
4	11/07/41		1	He 113	Destroyed	I-153		Revnoye	91 IAP
	24/07/41		1/7	He 113	Shared destroyed	I-153		Fursy	91 IAP
	14/08/41		1/?	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	I-153		Khotov	20 IAP
	1942
5	15/02/42		1	Bf 109 (a)	Destroyed	Yak-1		Dugino	1./518 IAP

Biplane victories: 4 and 6 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 5 and 6 shared destroyed.
(a) Possibly claimed in combat with II./JG 51.

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