Nikolay Trofimov was born in Ignat'yevskiye Vyselki on 15 September 1922.

He joined the Red Army in December 1939 and in September 1940, he graduated from Kachinskuyu Military Aviation Pilot School.

He served a junior pilot in 161 RZAP before being posted to 84-A IAP on 10 August 1942 as a mladshiy leitenant and zvena CO.
84-A IAP had been formed on 6 August 1942 with 16 I-153s and flew in North Caucasus. The unit was mainly used for ground attack missions. During 4 ½ month they shot and strafed 122 German aircraft on the ground, destroyed 319 tanks, 1087 trucks, 24 guns, 222 Flaks and machine-gun Flaks.

On 27 September 1942, he was wounded by a shell fragment in the leg.

In May 1943, he was transferred to the 16 GIAP equipped with the P-39 Airacobra when the most experienced pilots from the 84-A IAP was transferred to this regiment.

On 23 August 1943, three Airacobras from 16 GIAP claimed two He 111 over Dmitriyevka. Two of the claiming pilots were Grigoriy Rechkalov and Trofimov.
Later in the day, Trofimov claimed a Ju 87 south of Krinichka.

Trofimov ended the war with 1 bipane victory and a total of 15.
These had been claimed during 387 combat missions and 76 air combats.

Trofimov took part in the Victory Parade on the Red Square in Moscow on 24 June 1945.

On 27 June 1939, kapitan Trofimov was decorated with the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union (no. 6054) and the Order of Lenin.

After the war he continued to serve in the Air Force.
From March 1946 he studied at the command faculty of the Air Force Academy.

From May 1950, he served as deputy CO of 72 GIAP (151 IAD, 64 IAK).
With this regiment, he took part in the Korean war from November 1950 to February 1951, flying MiG-15bis.

From 1952, general-leitenant Trofimov served as CO of a fighter regiment.

In 1959, he graduated from the Aviation Faculty of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
He commanded a division and aviation of the Air Defense Army (in Minsk).
After being discharged from flight work, he worked as the head of the personnel department of the Air Defense Forces.

From 1982, general-leitenant Trofimov was in the reserve.

He lived in Moscow where he died on 1 March 1998.
Trofimov is buried in the Troyekurovskom cemetery.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1942
	23/09/42		1/4	Ju 87	Shared destroyed	I-153		Mozdok area	84-A IAP
	23/09/42		1/4	Ju 87	Shared destroyed	I-153		Mozdok area	84-A IAP
	23/09/42		1/4	Ju 87	Shared destroyed	I-153		Mozdok area	84-A IAP
	23/09/42		1/4	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	I-153		Mozdok area	84-A IAP
	23/09/42		1/4	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	I-153		Mozdok area	84-A IAP
1	25/09/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	I-153		Nizhniy Kurp - Mozdok	84-A IAP
	27/09/42		1/5	Ju 87	Shared destroyed	I-153		Nizhniy Kurp - Mozdok	84-A IAP
	27/09/42		1/5	Ju 87	Shared destroyed	I-153		Nizhniy Kurp - Mozdok	84-A IAP
	27/09/42		1/5	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	I-153		Nizhniy Kurp - Mozdok	84-A IAP
	27/09/42		1/5	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	I-153		Nizhniy Kurp - Mozdok	84-A IAP
	1943
2	22/08/43		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Airacobra		NW Donetsko-Amvrosiyevka	16 GIAP
	23/08/43		1/3	He 111	Shared destroyed	Airacobra		Dmitriyevka	16 GIAP
	23/08/43		1/3	He 111	Shared destroyed	Airacobra		Dmitriyevka	16 GIAP
3	23/08/43		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	Airacobra		S Krinichka	16 GIAP
4	10/10/43		1	Hs 129 (a)	Destroyed	Airacobra		Zelonyy Lug	16 GIAP
5	28/10/43		1	FW 189 (b)	Destroyed	Airacobra		S Malaya Belozerka	16 GIAP
6	01/11/43		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Airacobra		N Turetskiy Val	16 GIAP
7	01/11/43		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Airacobra		S Chaplinka	16 GIAP
	1944
8	30/05/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		Urikani	16 GIAP
9	30/05/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		N Aronyanu	16 GIAP
10	31/05/44		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	Airacobra		SW Rediu-Metropoliyey	16 GIAP
11	31/05/44		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	Airacobra		SW Rediu-Metropoliyey	16 GIAP
12	04/06/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		NW Yepureni	16 GIAP
13	26/08/44		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Airacobra		N Podvale	16 GIAP
	1945
14	01/02/45		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		S Helmdorf	16 GIAP
15	24/04/45		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Airacobra		S Luckenfelde	3./16 GIAP

Biplane victories: 1 and 9 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 15 and 11 shared destroyed.
(a) Not verified with Luftwaffe records.
(b) Not verified with Luftwaffe records.

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