Biplane fighter aces

Soviet Union

Polkovnik Fedor Leont’yevich Milayev

30 January 1918 – 8 March 1993

Decorations
Date Decoration Note
23/02/43 Order of the Red Banner 1st
21/08/43 Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd Class  
11/10/43 Order of the Patriotic War, 1st Class 1st
27/07/44 Order of the Red Banner 2nd
14/10/44 Order of Aleksandr Nevsky  
18/04/45 Order of the Red Banner 3rd
24/06/48 Medal ”For Military Merit”  
30/04/54 Order of the Red Star  
11/03/85 Order of the Patriotic War, 1st Class 2nd

Fedor Milayev was born on 30 January 1918 in Lunga.

He joined the Red Army on 1 December 1937 and in December 1938, he graduated from Perm Military Aviation School for pilots.

From January 1939, he served in the Trans-Baikal Military District.

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, leitenant Milayev served as zvena commander (flight commander) in 13 IAP, which was equipped with Polikarpov I-153s,

On 31 July he claimed a Ju 88.

He claimed a Bf 109 on 2 August as his second victory.
On the same day, he was seriously wounded in air combat and hospitalised.

Milayev left 13 IAP in August 1941.

In February 1942, he was posted to 46 IAP as a zvena commander and initially flew Hurricanes with this unit.

In June 1942, he was seriously wounded when attacking enemy infantry but managed to land in friendly territory.

On 2 July 1942, Milayev and Nikolay Magerin claimed a shared Ju 88 together with a third pilot east of Volokonovka.

The regiment was withdrawn from combat on 28 July 1942 to retrain on Kittyhawks and returned to combat with this new type on 15 December.

On 18 March 1943, 46 IAP became 68 GIAP.

On 24 May 1943, he was again wounded when he was wounded in the leg, head and an arm during air combat. He, however, managed to land his damaged fighter back at base.

On 20 September, 68 GIAP was withdrawn from combat to train on the Bell Airacobra (which they had started to train on in June) but a group of the most skilled pilots from the unit that quickly had mastered the Airacobra was seconded to 28 GIAP. Milayev was one of these pilots seconded.

In October, he became an eskadrilya commander.

On 9 and 10 October 1943, he claimed a FW 190 on each day.

He then returned to 68 GIAP where he became eskadrilya CO of 3./68 GIAP.
The regiment went into combat again on 3 June 1944.

On 14 September, major Ivan Grachev off on his 202nd sortie in the Riga area, and was seen to shoot down two He 111s. The Airacobras from 68 GIAP was then engaged in combat with FW 190s in the Rumbula area. Major Grachev rammed one of them over Rumbula and was killed. Milayev (3./68 GIAP) claimed a second over Rumbula while a third was claimed by Nikolay Magerin south-west of Rumbula.

On 17 September, the Airacobras from 68 GIAP again fought with FW 190s. Milayev (3./68 GIAP) claimed one west of Iyetsava station while Vladimir Bezrodnyy claimed one over Autse and one north-east of Iyetsava station. A fourth was claimed north of Autse by Mikhail Zabolotnov.

Kapitan Milayev ended the war with 2 biplane victories and a total of 13.
These were claimed during 315 combat missions and 67 air combats.

He participated in the Victory Parade on 24 June 1945 on the Red Square in Moscow.

He continued to serve in the VVS after war.

On 14 May 1964, polkovnik Milayev retired and in 1965 he moved to Rostov-on-Don.

Milayev passed away on 8 March 1993.

Claims:
Kill no. Date Time Number Type Result Plane type Serial no. Locality Unit
  1941                
1 31/07/41   1 Ju 88 Destroyed Polikarpov I-153   Vyazma station 13 IAP
2 02/08/41   1 Bf 109 Destroyed Polikarpov I-153   Podmos'ye 13 IAP
  1942                
  27/06/42   1/3 Do 215 Shared destroyed Hurricane   W Volokonovka 46 IAP
  02/07/42   1/3 Do 215 Shared destroyed Hurricane   E Volokonovka 46 IAP
  1943                
3 15/03/43   1 FW 190 Destroyed Kittyhawk   SE Staraya Russa 13 IAP
4 24/05/43   1 FW 190 Destroyed Kittyhawk   Shimsk - Soltsy 68 GIAP
5 24/05/43   1 FW 190 Destroyed Kittyhawk   Shimsk - Soltsy 68 GIAP
6 09/10/43   1 FW 190 (a) Destroyed Airacobra   Kayki 68 GIAP/28 GIAP
7 10/10/43   1 FW 190 (a) Destroyed Airacobra   Lake Karatay 68 GIAP/28 GIAP
  1944                
8 15/07/44   1 FW 190 Destroyed Airacobra   W Budynya 3./68 GIAP
9 24/07/44   1 FW 190 Destroyed Airacobra   Lake Alovsha 3./68 GIAP
10 15/08/44   1 FW 190 Destroyed Airacobra   Brunava - Skaytskalne 3./68 GIAP
11 14/09/44   1 FW 190 Destroyed Airacobra   Rumbula 3./68 GIAP
12 17/09/44   1 FW 190 Destroyed Airacobra   W Iyetsava station 3./68 GIAP
13 27/10/44   1 FW 190 Destroyed Airacobra   NW Priekule 3./68 GIAP

Biplane victories: 2 destroyed.
TOTAL: 13 and 2 shared destroyed.
(a) Claimed while seconded to 28 GIAP.

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




Last modified 06 April 2021