Yuriy Kuvshinov was born in 1919.

He graduated from Chkalovskaya flight school in 1940.

When Germany attacked the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, mladshiy leitenant Kuvshinov served in 91 IAP. This regiment operated on the South-Western Front and was equipped with Polikarpov I-153s.

Mladshiy leitenant Konstantin Pavlov claimed a shared He 111 together with another pilot over Kiev on 13 July. It’s possible that this was claimed together with mladshiy leitenant Kuvshinov since he is credited with a shared He 111 together with another pilot during the day.

On 30 July 1941, 16 I-153s and 20 pilots (including Kuvshinov) was transferred to 20 IAP while the remains of 91 IAP was posted to the rear for replenishments.

20 IAP was reorganised and supplemented with Yak-1s between 25 September and 5 November 1941.
They returned to combat on the Western Front on 12 November 1941.

On 13 May 1942, starshiy leitenant Kuvshinov was killed in an airplane crash when the PS-84 (licensed built DC-3) he was travelling in crashed.

At the time of his death, Kuvshinov was credited with 5 shared biplane victories and a total of 2.
These had been claimed during around 300 combat missions.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1941
	01/07/41		1/2	Hs 126	Shared destroyed	Polikarpov I-153		South-Western Front	91 IAP
	02/07/41		1/?	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	Polikarpov I-153		South-Western Front	91 IAP
	13/07/41		1/2	He 111	Shared destroyed	Polikarpov I-153		Kiev?	91 IAP
	10/08/41		1/?	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	Polikarpov I-153		South-Western Front	20 IAP
	11/08/41		1/2	He 112	Shared destroyed	Polikarpov I-153		South-Western Front	20 IAP
	1942
	03/02/42		1/2	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	Yak-1		Western Front	20 IAP
	03/02/42		1/2	Hs 126	Shared destroyed	Yak-1		Western Front	20 IAP
	01/03/42		1/2	Bf 110	Shared destroyed	Yak-1		Western Front	20 IAP
1	16/03/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-1		Western Front	20 IAP
2	06/04/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-1		Western Front	20 IAP

Biplane victories: 5 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 2 and 8 shared destroyed.

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