Aleksandr Shatskiy was born on 22 August 1920 in Moscow.

He joined the Red Army in 1938 and in November 1939 he graduated from the Borisoglebsk Military Aviation Pilot School.

Initially, he served in 161 OIAE flying I-16s but was posted to 35 IAP in May 1940. With this unit he flew Polikarpov I-153s.

In July 1942, mladshiy leitenant Shatskiy was posted to 926 IAP-PVO, which was equipped with I-153s.

On 23 August, I-153s from 926 IAP-PVO intercepted Ju 87s north-west of Gumrak Station. One was claimed shot down by leitenant Ivan Chernikov and a second by Petr Kopeykin. Five more were claimed as shot down as shared among seven pilots – four of these pilots were leytenant Chernikov, mladshiy leitenant Petr Ovsyannikov, mladshiy leitenant Shatskiy and Kopeykin.

On 25 August, the pilots without aircraft arrived at Srednyaya Akhtuba airfield.
12 pilots from the regiment were posted to 102 IAD on 5 September and Shatskiy was one of these, being posted to 629 IAP.
With this regiment he was to fly I-153s, I-16s, Hurricanes, Yak-1s and Kittyhawks.

On 9 September, four of the unit’s I-153s were returning from a combat mission over Stalingrad and their own airfield had just come within sight, when they were jumped by seven Bf 109s that dropped out of the clouds. One of the Chaykas was hit in the initial attack and started descending with a trail of black smoke.
As he saw the Bf 109s come diving, mladshiy leitenant Shatskiy pulled the stick of his I-153 and made a half loop to evade the attack. As he rolled over, he found that he was coming nose to nose with two enemy fighters. Both Bf 109s broke off to the left, and in this situation, the highly manoeuvrable biplane had the advantage. Shatskiy kicked the rudder pedal and the agile little Chayka rapidly turned and pointed straight into the two Germans’ flight direction. All Shatskiy had to do was press the trigger and keep it down until one of the Bf 109s flew into the shower of 7.62mm bullets at a distance of between fifty and seventy yards. Shatskiy’s victim possibly was the Bf 109 of 9./JG 3 that was reported to have carried out a belly landing at Gorodishche with 30 per cent battle damage.

He was decorated with the Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class on 5 November 1942.

In May 1943, he was posted to 83 GIAP, which was equipped with Kittyhawks. He also flew Spitfires with this unit.

On 16 September 1944, he was decorated with the Order of the Red Banner.

Shatskiy ended the war with 5 biplane victories.
These had been claimed during 221 combat missions and 42 air combats.

He continued to serve in the Air Force after the war and was placed in the reserve in August 1968 as a mayor general.

He was decorated with a second Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class on 11 March 1985.
During his career, he had also been decorated with the Order of the Red Star twice.

He lived in Minsk where he passed away on 1 February 2013.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1942
	23/08/42		1/7	Ju 87	Shared destroyed	I-153		NW Gumrak Station	926 IAP-PVO
	23/08/42		1/7	Ju 87	Shared destroyed	I-153		NW Gumrak Station	926 IAP-PVO
	23/08/42		1/7	Ju 87	Shared destroyed	I-153		NW Gumrak Station	926 IAP-PVO
	23/08/42		1/7	Ju 87	Shared destroyed	I-153		NW Gumrak Station	926 IAP-PVO
	23/08/42		1/7	Ju 87	Shared destroyed	I-153		NW Gumrak Station	926 IAP-PVO
1	07/09/42		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	I-153		S central Stalingrad airfield	629 IAP
2	09/09/42		1	Bf 109 (a)	Destroyed	I-153		NW Stalingrad	629 IAP
3	13/09/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	I-153		N central Stalingrad airfield	629 IAP
4	19/09/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	I-153		Krasnaya Sloboda	629 IAP
5	22/09/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	I-153		western outskirts of Stalingrad	629 IAP
	1944
	07/07/44		1	FW 189	Shared destroyed	Kittyhawk		SW Akkerman	83 GIAP

Biplane victories: 5 and 5 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 5 and 6 shared destroyed.
(a) Possibly a Bf 109 from 9./JG3.

Sources:
All aces of Stalin 1936-1953 – Mikhail Bykov, 2014
Black Cross/Red Star Volume III - Christer Bergström and Andrey Mikhailov, Pacifica Military History
Soviet Aces 1936-1953
Soviet Fighter Pilots 1936-1953 - Mikhail Bykov