Grigoriy Kraynov was born in 1914.

He graduated from Yeyskaya Flight School in 1936.

Leitenant Kraynov took part in the Finnish-Soviet Winter War where he served in 12 OIAE-KBF of the Baltic Fleet between January 1940 and March 1940, flying Polikarpov I-15bis.

On 15 February 1940, eight pilots from 12 OIAE-KBF claimed a shared Fokker D.XXI over Lappeenranta. Known pilots were leitenant Kraynov, leitenant Ivan Polyakh and starshiy leitenant Semen Lvov.

During the Winter War, he flew 20 combat missions and claimed one shared biplane victory.

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, starshiy leitenant Kraynov still served in 12 OIAE-KBF. This unit was at the time equipped with Polikarpov I-153s.

The I-153s from 12 OIAE-KBF was in combat with Ju 88s on 22 September 1941. Mladshiy leitenant Ivan Gorelikov, Nikolay Khromov and Kraynov all claimed a Ju 88 shared ”in group” and it’s thus possible that this was the same Ju 88.
Khromov also claimed a shared Hs 126 together with another pilot during the day.

Kapitan Kraynov was killed in air combat on 7 November 1942.

At the time of his death, Kraynov was credited with 5 shared biplane victories and a total of 2.
These had been claimed during 200 combat missions and 18 air combats (as of 21 November 1941).

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1940
	15/02/40		1/8	Fokker D.XXI	Shared destroyed	I-15bis		Lappeenranta	12 OIAE-KBF
	1941
	09/07/41		1/?	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	I-153			12 OIAE-KBF
	26/07/41		1/?	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	I-153			12 OIAE-KBF
	26/07/41		1/?	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	I-153			12 OIAE-KBF
	22/09/41		1/?	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	I-153			12 OIAE-KBF
	1942
	20/07/42		1/2	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	MiG-3			12 OIAE-KBF
1	22/10/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	MiG-3			12 OIAE-KBF
2	07/11/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	MiG-3			12 OIAE-KBF

Biplane victories: 5 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 2 and 6 shared destroyed.

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