Zhidov was born in Tolmachevka in the Ryazan region on 20 February 1916.

He entered the army on 4 March 1936, graduating from the Orenburg Military Air Collage during the same year.

In September 1939, he took part in the occupation of Eastern Poland.

In June 1941, Zhidov served as a leitenant in the 123 IAP of the 10 SmAD. The unit was at this time based in the Kobrin-Pinsk area. The unit was partially re-equipped with Yak-1s but as late as 19 June, only 20 Yak-1s were assembled at Imenin airfield and the unit thus started the war still equipped with Polikarpov I-153s.

During his first take-off in the morning on 22 June, he claimed two shared Ju 88s.

At 10:00, eight Bf 109Es from IV/JG 51 attacked four I-153s from 123 IAP flown by kapitan N. P. Mozhaev, leitenant Zhidov (his second take-off during the day), leitenant Petr Ryabtsev and leitenant Nazarov over the Brest fortress.
Zhidov claimed two shared Bf 109 shot down, but shortly afterwards his own aircraft was severely hit before another I-153 came to his aid. Mozhaev claimed a Bf 109 while Ryabtsev claimed another in a “taran” ramming attack after having expended all his ammunition. Ryabtsev managed to successfully bail out of his stricken fighter.
No German fighters seem to have been lost in this combat but Oberleutnant Karl-Gottfried Nordmann claimed an I-153 (most possibly Ryabtsev) at 10:10.

He is reputed to have claimed an additional number of shared victories on 22 June including a Bf 109 in the Zabinka area, one shared Ju 88s, one shared Bf 109 and one shared Hs 126 in the Brest area, giving a total of one and seven shared victories on this first day of the war.

On 30 July, he claimed two shared Bf 110s in the Yedrovo area.

He claimed a Bf 109 on 23 September.

On 27 September, he claimed a Bf 109 over Manushkino.

He took part in the combat over Moscow before the regiment moved to the Leningrad area.

Together with two other pilots, he claimed a shared Bf 109 over Arbuzovo on 25 October.

On 26 November, he claimed a Bf 109 over Cape Osinovets.

On 30 November, he took part in an interception of 12 Ju 88s and 12 Bf 109s over Cape Osiovets. As a result of the interception, no bombs fell on the port.

On 1 January 1942, he claimed a shared Bf 109 together with another pilot over Bugry.

In 1942, he was promoted to kapitan.

On 15 April, twelve 26 IAP and 123 IAP MiG-3s, Yak-1s and I-16s attacked the German aircraft dispersal area at Krasnogvardeysk airfield. Kapitan Vasiliy Matsiyevich of 26 IAP claimed two “Junkers” destroyed on the ground. In reality, only one Bf 109 sustained light damage during the raid.
Two I./JG 54 fighters scrambled and engaged the Soviet fighters. Kapitan Zhidov shot down one of the Bf 109s, but the podpolkovnik Boris Romanov, commanding officer of 26 IAP, was lost when his MiG-3 was shot to pieces and exploded on the ground not far from Krasnogvardeysk.
During the return flight, a lone Bf 109 pilot made a quick high-side attack and shot up one of the MiG-3s before he withdrew at high speed. The MiG-3 pilot, leitenant Nikolay Shcherbina, belly landed in friendly territory.
Zhidov’s claim in this combat can be verified with German loss records.

On 28 May, he claimed a Bf 109 over Manuskino.

On 30 May, Zhidov and Aleksandr Karpov (27 victories) were in the air and made several claims. First, they claimed one Bf 109 each over Lepsari and then they claimed one Bf 109 each over Rabochiy posolok No. 14. Finaly they claimed one Bf 109 as a shared between them over Rakhya station.

By June, he had flown 266 sorties, claiming 8 and 13 shared victories in 40 combats. At this time, he served as an eskadrilya commander.

He claimed a Ju 88 over Sosnovka on 3 August.

On 4 September, he claimed a Bf 109 over Rozdestvenskoye.

123 IAP was designated the 27 GIAP on 22 November 1942.

On 14 February 1943, he was decorated with the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union (no. 808) and the Order of Lenin.

From February 1943 until June 1943, he served at the HQ of 7 IAK.

In June 1943, he was posted to 11 GIAP.

On 9 June, he claimed a FW190.

He claimed another FW190 over Kolpino on 18 June.

On 22 June, he claimed a Bf 110 over Goytolovo.

On 25 April 1944, major Zhidov was posted to 401 IAP as CO.

During 1944, he took part in the battle for the Baltic States.

On 22 June, he claimed two Bf 109s in the Viborg area.

He claimed a Bf 109 in the Viborg area on 30 June 1944.

He ended the war in Europe in the Berlin area.

In August 1945, he was still commander of the 401 IAP and with this unit, he took part in the crushing of the Kwantung Army. At this time, he held the rank of major.

Zhidov ended the war with 1 biplane victory and a total of 16 and 14 shared destroyed. These were claimed during 366 combat missions and 70 air battles.

During the war he was also decorated with the Order of the Red Banner (four times; 31 December 1941, 30 April 1942, 28 June 1944 and an unknown date), the Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class (21 February 1944) and 2nd Class (5 July 1943) and the Order of the Red Star (twice).

Zhidov left 401 IAP in October 1945.

He remained in the Air Force after the war and retired as a polkovnik in 1957.

Zhidov then lived in Moscow.
He passed away on 11 April 1974 after severe and prolonged illness.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1941
	22/06/41	morning	1/3	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	I-153		Brest	123 IAP
	22/06/41	morning	1/3	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	I-153		Brest	123 IAP
	22/06/41	10:00	1	Bf 109 (a)	Shared destroyed	I-153		Brest	123 IAP
	22/06/41	10:00	1	Bf 109 (a)	Shared destroyed	I-153		Brest	123 IAP
	22/06/41		1/3	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	I-153		Brest	123 IAP
	22/06/41		1/3	Ju 88	Shared destroyed	I-153		Brest	123 IAP
	22/06/41		1/3	Hs 126	Shared destroyed	I-153		Brest	123 IAP
1	22/06/41		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	I-153		Zhabinka	123 IAP
	30/07/41		1/?	Bf 110	Shared destroyed	Yak-1		Yedrovo	123 IAP
	30/07/41		1/?	Bf 110	Shared destroyed	Yak-1		Yedrovo	123 IAP
2	23/09/41		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-1		Rybatskoye	123 IAP
3	27/09/41		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-1		Manushkino	123 IAP
	25/10/41		1/3	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	Yak-1		Arbuzovo	123 IAP
4	26/11/41		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-1		Cape Osinovets	123 IAP
	1942
	01/01/41		1/2	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	Yak-1		Bugry	123 IAP
5	15/04/42		1	Bf 109 (b)	Destroyed	Yak-1		Krasnogvardeysk airfield	123 IAP
6	28/05/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-1		Manuskino	123 IAP
7	30/05/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-1		Lepsari	123 IAP
8	30/05/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-1		Rabochiy posolok No. 14	123 IAP
	30/05/42		1/2	Bf 109	Shared destroyed	Yak-1		Rakhya station	123 IAP
9	03/08/42		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Yak-1		Sosnovka	123 IAP
10	04/09/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-1		Rozdestvenskoye	123 IAP
	1943
11	09/06/43		1	FW 190	Destroyed	La-5		Antropshino	11 GIAP
12	18/06/43		1	FW190	Destroyed	La-5		Kolpino	11 GIAP
13	22/06/43		1	Bf 110	Destroyed	La-5		Goytolovo	11 GIAP
	1944
14	22/06/44		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	La-5		Viborg	401 IAP
15	22/06/44		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	La-5		Viborg	401 IAP
16	30/06/44		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	La-5		Piproty	401 IAP

Biplane victories: 1 and 7 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 16 and 12 shared destroyed.
(a) Claimed in combat with JG51. 123 IAP claimed at least two Bf 109s in this combat but these losses have not been possible to verify with German sources.
(b) Bf 109 from I./JG 54 shot down. This loss can be verified with German records.

Sources:
Aeroram
All aces of Stalin 1936–1953 – Mikhail Bykov, 2014
Soviet Aces 1936-1953
Soviet Fighter Pilots 1936-1953 - Mikhail Bykov
Barbarossa – The Air Battle: July-December 1941 – Christer Bergström, 2007, Chevron Publishing Limited, ISBN 978-1-85780-270-2
Black Cross/Red Star Volume I - Christer Bergström and Andrey Mikhailov, 2000 Pacifica Military History, ISBN 0-935553-48-7
Black Cross/Red Star Volume II - Christer Bergström and Andrey Mikhailov, 2001 Pacifica Military History, ISBN 0-935553-51-7
Russian Fighter Aces of 1914-1953 years
Soviet Aces 1936-1953
Soviet Fighter Pilots 1936-1953 - Mikhail Bykov
Stalin's Eagles - Hans D. Seidl, 1998 Schiffer Publishing, ISBN 0-7643-0476-3
Stalin's Falcons - Tomas Polak and Christhoper Shores, 1999 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-902304-01-2
Additional information kindly provided by Ondrej Repka and Yuri Shakhov.