Leonid Ryzhii was born in Kiev on 23 September 1921.
He studied in the Agricultural School and learned to fly in a local aeroclub before joining the army in 1939. He graduated from the Kacha Military Air College in 1940.

He was assigned to the 743 IAP and posted to the front in October 1941.

Up until 17 May 1942, he had claimed two Ju 88s and one He 111 while flying the Polikarpov I-153. During this day his aircraft was damaged, and he was wounded but he managed to return to his base.

His wounds required hospitalisation and he returned to combat in the end of 1942 when he was posted to 347 IAP. During the winter/spring of 1943, this unit was re-equipped with Yak-9s.

On 20 September 1943, he was leading four Yak-9s to tear into a large bomber formation near Koselets (north-east of Kiev) and in spite of vicious return fire destroyed a Ju 88 while his comrades got two more. His fighter had been badly hit but he maintained effective control completing the mission.

On 9 August 1944, 12 Yaks under his leadership was involved in combat with 22 German fighters over the Wisla river near Magnuszew (south-east of Warszawa). During this combat, he claimed the leading FW 190 and later one more.

He saw a great deal of action during the Vistula-Oder campaign 12 January to 3 February 1945 and above the Oder bridgehead at Küstrin.

During February 1945, his unit was re-equipped with Yak-3s.

Ryzhii remained on operations throughout the war, and by March 1945 he was a Kapitan, leading an eskadrilia in the 347 IAP on the 1st Belorussian Front.

On 7 March, he was flying a free hunt mission together with Mladshii Leitenant N. P. Bugayev in the Beeskow area. During the mission the encountered six FW 190s and in the ensuing combat they claimed one each of the German fighters.

On 18 April 1945, he claimed his last victory during the war when he claimed a German aircraft over Berlin.

Ryzhii ended the war with 3 biplane victories and a total of 21. These were claimed in 290 sorties and 95 air combats. Among his victories were one He 111 and three Ju 88s.

On 15 May 1946, he was decorated with the Gold Star of Hero of the Soviet Union (# 9024) and the Order of Lenin.
During the war, he was also decorated with the Order of the Red Banner (17 October 1942, 22 August 1944, 19 October 1945 and a fourth time on an unknown date), the Order of Aleksandr Nevskii (15 October 1944), the Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class (15 September 1943 and 11 March 1985) and the Order of the Red Star (twice).

He remained in the VVS after the war and graduated from the Air Academy in 1951 and from the Economy Faculty in 1963. His last flight was in a MiG-21. He retired in 1973 with the rank of Polkovnik and lived in Moscow.

Ryzhii passed away on 2 May 1995.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1942
1	02/03/42		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	I-153		Kerch area	743 IAP
	12/03/42		1/2	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	I-153		Kerch	743 IAP
2	10/04/42		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	I-153			743 IAP
3	15/05/42		1	He 111	Destroyed	I-153		Novorossiysk area	743 IAP
	1943
4	02/06/43		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Yak-9		Kamenevo	347 IAP
5	03/08/43		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Yak-9		NW Trosna	347 IAP
6	03/08/43		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Yak-9		NW Almazovo	347 IAP
7	04/08/43		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	Yak-9		N Kolka	347 IAP
8	04/08/43		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	Yak-9			347 IAP
9	09/09/43		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	Yak-9			347 IAP
10	20/09/43		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Yak-9		Koselets	347 IAP
11	05/10/43		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	Yak-9		SW Rotichi	347 IAP
12	05/10/43		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	Yak-9		S Avdeeva Niva	347 IAP
	1944
13	05/08/43		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Yak-9			347 IAP
14	09/08/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Yak-9		Magnuszew	347 IAP
15	09/08/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Yak-9		Magnuszew	347 IAP
	1945
16	22/02/45		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak			347 IAP
17	07/03/45		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Yak-3		Beeskow area	347 IAP
18	18/03/45		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Yak-3			347 IAP
19	18/03/45		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Yak-3			347 IAP
20	22/03/45		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Yak-3		W Lebus	347 IAP
21	18/04/45		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Yak-3			347 IAP

Biplane victories: 3 and 1 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 21 and 1 shared destroyed.

Sources:
All aces of Stalin 1936–1953 – Mikhail Bykov, 2014
Sovetskiye asy - Nikolay Bodrikhin, 1998, kindly provided by Ondrej Repka.
Soviet Aces 1936-1953
Stalin's Eagles - Hans D. Seidl, 1998 Schiffer Publishing, ISBN 0-7643-0476-3
Stalin's Falcons - Tomas Polak and Christhoper Shores, 1999 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-902304-01-2