Yakov Titaev was born in 1907.

He graduated from flight school in 1935.

Starshii leitenant Titaev took part in the later stages of the Finnish-Soviet Winter War of 1939-1940, being at the front only during the last month in March 1940. 148 IAP flew Polikarpov I-153s at this time.

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, kapitan Titaev still served in 148 IAP, which was still equipped with Polikarpov I-153s. This unit operated on the North-Western Front.

On 25 July 1941, Titaev was decorated with the Order of the Red Banner.

On 11 May 1942, he didn’t return from a combat mission.

At the time of his death, Titaev was credited with 2 biplane victories and a total of 3.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1941
1	22/06/41		1	He 111	Destroyed	I-153		North-Western Front	148 IAP
	26/06/41		1/2	He 111	Shared destroyed	I-153		North-Western Front	148 IAP
2	01/07/41		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	I-153		North-Western Front	148 IAP
	1942
3	31/03/42		1	Hs 126	Destroyed	MiG-3		South-Western Front	148 IAP

Biplane victories: 2 and 1 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 3 and 1 shared destroyed.

Sources:
All aces of Stalin 1936-1953 – Mikhail Bykov, 2014
Soviet Aces 1936-1953
Soviet Fighter Pilots 1936-1953 - Mikhail Bykov