Ivan Podgorny was born in 1911.

Starshiy politruk Podgorny took part in Khalkhin Gol where he flew Polikarpov I-15bis in 22 IAP.

On 8 July 1939, fighters from 22 IAP were heavily involved in combat and starshiy politruk Podgorny (I-15bis) claimed a Ki-27 between post nos. 92-93 as did starshiy leitenant Viktor Rakhov while starshiy leitenant Aleksandr Murmylov (I-16) claimed two more. Kapitan Konstantin Kuzmenko (I-16) claimed two shared at the same place, one shared with another pilot and one shared with two other pilots. Starshiy leitenant Samson Andreyev (I-15bis) claimed a second Ki-27 at an unknown place. Andreyev was then wounded and he was evacuated to a hospital in the Soviet Union. Starshiy leitenant Viktor Chistyakov (I-16) claimed one shared Ki-27 with another pilot (Kuzmenko?). Starshiy politruk Vladimir Kalachev, leitenant Aleksandr P’yankov, starshiy leytenant Mark Shpan and starshiy leitenant Vasiliy Vuss claimed one Ki-27 each.
Starshiy politruk Nikolai Bibik from the same unit was shot down in combat in his I-16 in the Nomon-Khan-Burd-obo area.

This was Podgorny’s only claim in the Nomonhan Incident.
During his time in Mongolia, he flew 50 combat missions and took part in 8 air combats.

Starshiy politruk Podgorny took part in the Soviet-Finnish Winter War between February and March 1940, flying I-153s in 15 IAP.

When Germany attacked the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, Podgorny served in 15 IAP, flying MiG-3s with this unit.

He left the unit in December 1941 and was posted as a eskadrilya CO at 1 ZAP.

From 28 August 1942, he worked as a as a ferryman on the ALSIB track. He was convicted by a military tribunal and sent to the front.

He seems to have been somewhat rehabilitated and in July 1943, he was posted to 163 IAP, flying Yak-7s and Yak-9s with this unit.

Podgorny was shot down and killed in air combat on 5 October 1943.

At the time of his death, Podgorny was credited with 1 biplane victory and a total of 6.
These had been claimed during 38 combat missions and 14 air combats (as of 27 August 1941).

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1939
1	08/07/39		1	Ki-27	Destroyed	Polikarpov I-15bis		Posts nos. 92-93	22 IAP
	1941
2	26/08/41		1	Enemy aircraft	Destroyed	MiG-3		Spasskaya Polist'	15 IAP
3	26/08/41		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	MiG-3		Spasskaya Polist'	15 IAP
	14/10/41		1/2	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	MiG-3		Osinovets area	15 IAP
4	13/11/41		1	”He 113”	Destroyed	MiG-3		NW Tosno	15 IAP
	1943
5	04/08/43		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	Yak		Popovo - Khlyustovka	163 IAP
6	04/08/43		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	Yak		Krasnaya Yagoda	163 IAP

Biplane victories: 1 destroyed.
TOTAL: 6 and 1 shared destroyed.

Sources:
All aces of Stalin 1936–1953 – Mikhail Bykov, 2014
Remember the winged heroes of Khalkhin-Gol! – Oleg Kaminsky kindly provided by Michael Meyer
Soviet Fighter Pilots 1936-1953 - Mikhail Bykov