Biplane fighter aces

Soviet Union

Podpolkovnik Stefan Efimovich Voitenko HSU

Stefan Voitenko was born on 26 July 1909.

He joined the Red Army in 1931.

Leitenant Voitenko took part in the Soviet-Finnish Winter War in 1939-1940 where he flew Polikarpov I-153s in 13 IAP-KBF of the Baltic Sea Fleet.

He totally claimed one biplane victory during the Winter War. This was claimed during 95 missions and 10 air combats.

When Germany invade the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, Starshii Leitenant Voitenko served as deputy eskadrilia commander in 2./8 IAP-ChF of the Black Sea Fleet, flying Polikarpov I-153s.

He was wounded while flying a reconnaissance mission on 30 October 1941 and was sent to Sevastopol for treatment. He didn’t return to 8 IAP-ChF after this.

Voitenko was posted to 62 IAP-ChF in July 1942, flying LaGG-3s and Yak-1 with this unit.

On 10 August 1942, Voitenko and Boris Maslov claimed a shared Bf 110 east of Novorossiysk Bay. Voitenko then claimed an Bf 109 in the Novorossiysk area before he and Maslov claimed a shared Ju 88 over Abrau-Dyurso.

Voitenko left 62 IAP-ChF during 1943 when he was posted to 6 GIAP-ChF. This was the old 8 IAP-ChF, which had become a guard’s unit on 3 April 1942. With this unit he flew Yak-1 and Yak-9s.

On 23 January 1944, 6 GIAP-ChF was in combat in the Kerch area and made several claims. Mikhail Grib claimed one Bf 109 over Dzhardzhava station, Mikhail Kologrivov claimed a second Bf 109 over Kerch, Aleksandr Rumyantsev claimed a third while Voitenko claimed a Ju 87 over Katerlez.

On 10 February 1944, the Yak-9s from 6 GIAP-ChF was in combat. First Boris Akulov claimed a Bf 109 before he and Voitenko claimed a Ju 87 each.

Over Khersonesskiy lighthouse on 10 May 1944, Voitenko and Boris Akulov claimed a Bf 110 destroyed each.

On 5 November 1944, he was decorated with the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union (# 3800) and the Order of Lenin.
At the time he had flown 241 missions and taken part in 45 air combats.

On 30 December 1944, he took command of 43 IAP-KBF of the Baltic Fleet. This unit was at the time equipped with Bell P-39 Airacobras.

On 19 July 1945, the unit was redeployed to the Pacific Fleet and at the same time the re-equipped with P-63 Kingcobras.

With this unit, he took part in the Soviet-Japanese War between 9 August and 3 September 1945.

Voitenko ended the war with 5 biplane victories and a total of 11.
During his career he was decorated with the Order of Lenin (1 May 1940 and 5 November 1944), the Order of the Red Banner (6 March 1942, 5 November 1942), the Order of Patriotic War, 1st Class (15 April 1944 and 11 March 1985) and the Order of the Red Star (3 November 1944 and one more time at unknown date).

He continued to serve after the war.

Voitenko passed away on 21 April 1992.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1940
1	19/02/40		1	Gladiator	Destroyed	Polikarpov I-153		Tervajoki-Havinimaa	13 IAP-KBF
	1941
2	21/09/41		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Polikarpov I-153		Chaplinka airfield	2./8 IAP-ChF
3	21/09/41		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Polikarpov I-153		Chaplinka airfield	2./8 IAP-ChF
4	23/09/41		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Polikarpov I-153		Chaplinka airfield	2./8 IAP-ChF
5	26/09/41		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Polikarpov I-153		Armyansk	2./8 IAP-ChF
	1942
6	31/07/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	LaGG-3		Novorossiysk area	62 IAP-ChF
	10/08/42		1/2	Bf 110	Shared destroyed	LaGG-3		E Novorossiysk Bay	62 IAP-ChF
7	10/08/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	LaGG-3		Novorossiysk area	62 IAP-ChF
	10/08/42		1/2	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	LaGG-3		Abrau-Dyurso	62 IAP-ChF
	1944
8	23/01/44		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	Yak-9		Katerlez	6 GIAP-ChF
9	10/02/44		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	Yak-9		Gryazevaya Puchina	6 GIAP-ChF
10	08/05/44		1	Enemy aircraft	Destroyed	Yak-9		Sevastopol area	6 GIAP-ChF
11	10/05/44		1	Bf 110	Destroyed	Yak-9		Khersonesskiy lighthouse	6 GIAP-ChF

Biplane victories: 5 destroyed.
TOTAL: 11 and 2 shared destroyed.

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