Pavel Vasil’yev was born in 1916.

Mladshiy leitenant Vasil’yev was posted to 482 IAP in December 1941. This regiment was equipped with Polikarpov I-153s and operated on the North Caucasian Front.

On 8 January 1942, the regiment was posted to the Crimean.

From 9 June 1942, the regiment belonged to the Transcaucasian Front.

On 19 July, a Ju 88 was claimed as a shared destroyed over Bataysk by eight pilots from 482 IAP. Among these pilots were leitenant Vasil’yev and Ivan Videnkin.

They retrained on LaGG-3s between 16 September and 10 December 1942.

Between 27 February 1943 and 24 June, they retrained on the La-5.

On 7 July, they went into combat with their new La-5s on the Bryansk Front as part of 322 IAD.

From 21 August, they were held in reserve on the Western Front.

Vasil’yev left 482 IAP in 1943 (after September), when he was posted to the Higher Officer School of Air Combat.

Starshiy leitenant Vasil’yev was killed in an aircraft crash on 16 February 1944.

At the time of his death, Vasil’yev was credited with 3 shared biplane victories and a total of 3.
These had been claimed during 320 combat missions.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1942
	19/07/42		1/8	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	Polikarpov I-153		Bataysk	482 IAP
	20/07/42		1/?	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	Polikarpov I-153		Transcaucasian Front	482 IAP
	20/07/42		1/?	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	Polikarpov I-153		Transcaucasian Front	482 IAP
	1943
1	16/07/43		1	FW 190	Destroyed	La-5		Bryansk Front	482 IAP
2	19/07/43		1	FW 190	Destroyed	La-5		Bryansk Front	482 IAP
3	19/07/43		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	La-5		Bryansk Front	482 IAP
	06/08/43		1/2	FW 190	Destroyed	La-5		Bryansk Front	482 IAP

Biplane victories: 3 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 3 and 4 shared destroyed.

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