Smirnov was born in Paltsevo in the Kalinin area on 7 February 1917. His father died when he was young, and he lived with his mother and 6 brothers and sisters. After school he worked with farming and other various occupations.
He learned to fly at the Kalinin aeroclub before starting his military career in 1938 and completing his pilot training at Odessa Military Air College later that same year.

He cut his teeth against the Finns during the Winter War of 1939/40 flying Polikarpov I-153s but without claiming anything.

At the outbreak of the Patriotic War, he was serving in the 153 IAP engaging in the threefold mission of carrying out armed reconnaissance, bomber escort and ground attack at the Leningrad front.

On 9 July 1941, Smirnov and Adam Amkoladze both claimed their first victories when the I-153s of 153 IAP were in combat with Bf 109s over Parikka.

On 14 September 1941, he was badly hit and wounded in a fighter battle but managed to nurse his blazing aircraft back to friendly territory before bailing out. He was hospitalised but returned to duty in the end of October 1941.

In early 1942, the regiment was transferred to the Volkhov Front to defend the ‘Way of Life’ to Leningrad across the ice-bound Lake Ladoga.
During the summer the regiment was moved to the Voronezh Front and he was promoted to starshiy leitenant.
On 30 June 1942, the regiment was as one of the first regiments to be re-equipped with Bell P-39D Airacobras. He was to fly this fighter with notable success during subsequent assignments on Voronezh, Northwest, Kalinin, 1st and 2nd Baltic and 3rd Byelorussian Fronts to come out of World War II as the regiment’s top ace.

On 23 July 1942, he was leading six Airacobras to tear into a formation of six Ju 87s and an equal number of Bf 109s from II/JG 77 near Zemlyansk. Before the escort could intervene, Smirnov had destroyed one of the Stukas, then pulled in behind a Bf 109, and started to pour fire into him. The German pilot knew how to protect his skin and gave him a good fight. By continually turning, sideslipping and fishtailing he managed to work his way back into German territory forcing Smirnov to break off and turn for home when fuel was getting low.
Some sources states that Smirnov’s aircraft was shot down over German held territory in this combat and that he parachuted safely from it. The wind then brought him safely into Soviet territory.

On 22 November 1942 the 153 IAP was designated the 28 GIAP and moved to the North West Front.

On 15 March 1943 Smirnov got into a hard, protracted duel with a FW190 flown by a pilot of equal ability. The combat came to a rapid end when he allowed the German pilot to get close, then throttled back allowing him to overshoot. Smirnov latched onto his tail getting strikes all over him following which the FW 190 hit the ground in a splash of flame.

During the spring of 1943 he was promoted to kapitan and became deputy commander of an eskadrilya.

On 1 August 1943 the 28 GIAP was re-equipped with P-39Qs.

On 28 September 1943 he was decorated with the Gold Star of Hero of the Soviet Union (no. 1213) and the Order of Lenin for 13 victories claimed on 39 air combats on 212 sorties as of August 1943. By the end of September his score had climbed to 18 victories.

In October 1943 he took over as a commander of an eskadrilya.

His highest scoring day was 9 October 1943 when he shot down four German planes and for this feat he was decorated with the Order of Aleksandr Nevskiy on 11 October.

Late in 1943 the unit moved to the 1st Baltic Front.
In 1944 he was promoted to Major and the unit moved to the 2nd Baltic Front.
In January 1945 he advanced to deputy commander of the regiment and participated in the final clashes over Berlin.

On 23 February 1945 he was decorated with the second Gold Star of Hero of the Soviet Union (no. 4182) and the second Order of Lenin for 31 victories and 1 shared claimed on 296 sorties as of September 1944.
During the start of 1945 the unit moved first to the 3rd and then to the 2nd Belorussian Fronts. His number two on many occasions was 14-victory ace Poytr Uglyanskiy. At one occasion they together shot down four Bf 109s.
Smirnov was also decorated with the Order of the Red Banner (3 December 1941, 30 April 1943, 3 September 1944, 3 May 1945 and a fifth time on an unknown date), the Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class (15 May 1945 and 11 March 1985) and the Order of the Red Star.
Smirnov ended the war with 1 biplane victory and a total of 35. These were claimed on 72 encounters on 357 sorties of which 100 were ground attacks. The last sortie and combat took place over East Prussia.

Following World War II Smirnov assumed command of a fighter air regiment and flew MiG-15s and Mig-17s. Later he became a fighter inspector of a military district.
He retired from the VVS as a polkovnik in 1954. He lived in Moscow and died on 7 August 1987.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1941
1	09/07/41		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	I-153		Parikka	153 IAP
	1942
2	23/07/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Airacobra		Fomino-Negachevka	153 IAP
3	23/07/42		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Airacobra		Bolshaya Vereika	153 IAP
4	13/08/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Airacobra		Tresvyatskaya area	153 IAP
5	16/12/42		1	Hs 126	Destroyed	Airacobra		SW Ramushevo	28 GIAP
	29/12/42		1/2	FW 189	Destroyed	Airacobra		Karpovo	28 GIAP
	1943
6	05/01/43		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Airacobra		E Cynodon	28 GIAP
7	05/01/43		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Airacobra			28 GIAP
8	15/01/43		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Airacobra		Presnyanka	28 GIAP
9	17/02/43		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Airacobra		Rechitsa	28 GIAP
10	27/02/43		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Airacobra		NW Zukowo	28 GIAP
11	15/03/43		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		Dubki-Mukhino	28 GIAP
12	15/03/43		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		Bologizh	28 GIAP
13	15/03/43		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		Zaborov'ye-Kozlovo	28 GIAP
	27/06/43		1	Balloon	Destroyed	Airacobra		Sonakovschina	28 GIAP
14	28/07/43		1	FW 189	Destroyed	Airacobra		W Otvadno	28 GIAP
15	08/08/43		1	FW 189	Destroyed	Airacobra		N Tuleble Station	28 GIAP
16	17/08/43		1	FW 189	Destroyed	Airacobra		Pereterka	28 GIAP
17	07/10/43		1	He 111	Destroyed	Airacobra		N Stajkino	28 GIAP
18	09/10/43		1	Hs 126	Destroyed	Airacobra			28 GIAP
19	09/10/43		1	He 111	Destroyed	Airacobra			28 GIAP
20	09/10/43		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		Borisova	28 GIAP
21	09/10/43		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		Zukowo	28 GIAP
22	10/10/43		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		W Nevel	28 GIAP
23	15/10/43		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	Airacobra		Platonovo	28 GIAP
24	15/10/43		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	Airacobra			28 GIAP
25	18/10/43		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	Airacobra			28 GIAP
	1944
26	15/07/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		W Lake Dzisna	28 GIAP
27	17/07/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		NW Kraslava Station	28 GIAP
28	17/07/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		W Kraslava Station	28 GIAP
29	19/07/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		E Staryi	28 GIAP
30	28/07/44		1	Me 210	Destroyed	Airacobra		NW Gluda Station	28 GIAP
31	15/08/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		E Bauska	28 GIAP
32	14/09/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		Kuloda manor	28 GIAP
33	14/09/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		N edge Dozsala island	28 GIAP
34	17/09/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		S Dobele	28 GIAP
	1945
35	20/01/45		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		Insterburg	28 GIAP

Biplane victories: 1 destroyed.
TOTAL: 35 and 1 shared destroyed, 1 destroyed balloon.

Sources:
All aces of Stalin 1936–1953 – Mikhail Bykov, 2014
Black Cross/Red Star Volume III - Christer Bergström, Andrey Dikov and Vlad Antipov, 2006 Eagle Editions Ltd, Hamilton, ISBN 0-9761034-4-3
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
Additional information kindly provided by Alexey V. Andreev.