Nikolai Yurkin was born in 1918.

He graduated from the flight school at Kachin in 1940.

Leitenant Yurkin served in 926 IAP-PVO from 29 June 1942 when this unit was formed in the Stalingrad area. With this unit he flew Polikarpov I-153s.
926 IAP-PVO became operational on 11 July.

On 10 August 1942, Yurkin’s fighter was set on fire in air combat and he crashed his burning fighter on the airfield. He was rushed to hospital but died a few hours later from his burns.
Yurkin was possibly shot down by Unteroffizier Helmut Peissert from 1./JG 53 (Bf 109G), who claimed an I-153 at 09:15 at 4200 meters altitude west of Stalingrad.

At the time of his death, Yurkin was credited with 2 biplane victories.

He was decorated with a posthumous Order of the Red Banner on 19 September.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1942
1	29/07/42 (a)		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	I-153			926 IAP-PVO
2	02/08/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	I-153			926 IAP-PVO

Biplane victories: 2 destroyed.
TOTAL: 2 destroyed.
(a) 31/07/42 according to some sources.

Sources:
Soviet Fighter Pilots 1936-1953 - Mikhail Bykov