Soviet Union
Major Ivan Kirillovich Polyakh
Soviet Union
Major Ivan Kirillovich Polyakh
1909 –
| Date | Decoration | Note |
| 21/04/40 | Order of the Red Banner | 1st |
| 16/09/41 | Order of the Red Banner | 2nd |
| 15/11/50 | Order of the Red Banner | 3rd |
| 29/03/46 | Order of Aleksandr Nevsky | |
| 10/11/45 | Order of the Red Star | |
| 06/03/43 | Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class | 1st |
| 11/03/85 | Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class | 2nd |
| 03/11/44 | Medal for ”Military Merit” |
Ivan Polyakh was born in 1909.
He graduated from Odessa Flight School in 1933.
Leitenant Polyakh took part in the incident over Lake Khassan against Japan in July and August 1938 while serving with 1 IAP and flying Polikarpov I-15bis.
No aerial victories were claimed during this conflict.
Later, leitenant Polyakh was transferred to the Baltic and he took part in the Finnish-Soviet Winter War where he served in 12 OIAE-KBF of the Baltic Fleet between November 1939 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 Grigoriy Kraynov, leitenant Polyakh and starshiy leitenant Semen Lvov.
During the Winter War, he flew 22 combat missions., took part in 5 air combats 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.
He was posted from 12 OIAE-KBF in September 1941 when he was posted to 62 ShAP-ChF of the Black Sea Fleet.
62 ShAP-ChF was renamed to 62 IAP-ChF during the spring of 1942.
On 4 August 1944, he claimed two Bf 109s during take-off.
He left the 62 IAP-ChF in February 1944 and was posted to 7 IAP-KBF in August 1944 but only remained there for one month, leaving in September 1944.
Polyakh ended the war with 1 biplane victory and a total of 3.
These had been claimed during 74 combat missions (by 1 October 1942, he had flown 62 combat missions).
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 | |||||||||
| 16/07/41 | 1/2 | Ju 88 | Shared destroyed | I-153 | 12 OIAE-KBF | ||||
| 1 | 20/07/41 | 1 | Bf 109 | Destroyed | I-153 | 12 OIAE-KBF | |||
| 24/08/41 | 1/2 | Ju 88 | Shared destroyed | I-153 | 12 OIAE-KBF | ||||
| 1942 | |||||||||
| 2 | 04/08/42 | 1 | Bf 109 | Destroyed | LaGG-3 | 62 IAP-ChF | |||
| 3 | 04/08/42 | 1 | Bf 109 | Destroyed | LaGG-3 | 62 IAP-ChF |
Biplane victories: 1 and 3 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 3 and 3 shared destroyed.
Sources:
All aces of Stalin 1936-1953 – Mikhail Bykov, 2014
Soviet Aces 1936-1953
Soviet Fighter Pilots 1936-1953 - Mikhail Bykov
