Biplane fighter aces

Soviet Union

Polkovnik Ivan Sergeyevich Zudilov HSU

Ivan Zudilov was born in Krutovo on 8 June 1919.

He joined the Red Army in 1938.

In 1939, he graduated from Orenburg Military Aviation School.

In June 1941, mladshiy leitenant Zudilov served in 42 IAP, flying Polikarpov I-153s.

On 22 June, he claimed a Bf 109 by a taran ramming attack.

In July 1941, he was posted to 163 IAP. With this unit, he flew Yak-1s.

He was wounded in air combat on 12 August.
Without getting any treatment, he escaped from the hospital and returned to his regiment.

On 5 May 1942, he was decorated with the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union (no. 1034) and the Order of Lenin.

163 IAP’s Yak-1s intercepted Ju 88s in the Rzhev area on 5 August and Zudilov and Sergey Kotyukov (victory no. 7 of a total of 13) claimed one each.

The Yak-1s from 163 IAP fought with Bf 109s in the Rzhev area on 25 August and Zudilov and Sergey Kotyukov (victory no. 13 of a total of 13) claimed one each.

Zudilov was posted to 157 IAP in November 1942 as a CO of a eskadrilya and was to fly LaGG-3s, Yak-7s, Yak-9s, Yak-1s and Yak-3s with this unit.

On 6 July 1943, ten Yaks from 157 IAP under the command of kapitan Zudilov covered troops in the area of Ponyri-Maloarkhangelsk, Oryol oblast. At an altitude of 1,500 meters and flying under clouds, the Soviet fighters were surprised by a reported twelve FW 190s attacked through the clouds. One Yak-7B was immediately shot down but the pilot was able to parachute and landed in friendly territory.
The subsequent combat took place in and out through the clouds down to an altitude of 500-600 meters.
At an altitude of 1,200 meters, Zudilov attacked a FW 190 from below while it tried to get on the tail of one of the Yak-7 and shot it down from 100 meters west of Ponyri. Starshiy leitenant Savchenkov claimed a second FW 190 at an altitude of 1,400 meters when he attacked it from below and to the right of it. At an altitude of 800-1000 meters leitenant Ivan Maslov claimed a third from 100-50 meters while serzhant Grigoriy Yakimovich at an altitude of 1,000-1,200 meters claimed a fourth FW 190 north-west of Ponyri. A fifth FW 190 was claimed by Viktor Yashin east of Ponyri.
Having lost five aircraft, the enemy fighters withdrew from the battlefield.

On 7 July, Zudilov claimed one FW 190 south of Vozy while Grigoriy Yakimovich claimed a second over Vozy.

157 IAP intercepted Ju 88s between Novo-Yamskaya and Semonovskaya on 19 August. Zudilov claimed one of them destroyed while Nikolay Stepanov claimed a second.

The Yak-9s of 157 IAP claimed at least five FW 190s on 23 February 1944, when Zudilov claimed one over Novosolki and one west of Rogachev, Nikolay Brodskiy (14 victories) claimed one over Rogachev and one south-east of Bliznetsy while Nikolay Kaznacheyev (11 victories) claimed one east of Rogachev. Kaznacheyev also claimed a Ju 87 west of Rogachev.

At the end of the war, Zudilov was credited with 1 biplane victory and a total of 26.
These had been claimed during 378 missions and 100 air combats.

He continued to serve in the VVS after the war and in 1949, he graduated from the Air Force Academy.

He resigned from the VVS as a polkovnik in 1961 due to health reasons to live in Odessa.

Ivan Zudilov passed away on 7 October 1980

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1941
1	22/06/41		1	Bf 109 (a)	Destroyed	I-153		Vilnius	42 IAP
	05/08/41		1/?	Hs 126	Shared destroyed	Yak-1		Kholmy	163 IAP
2	09/08/41		1	Hs 126	Destroyed	Yak-1		Boltutino	163 IAP
3	10/08/41		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-1		Boltutino	163 IAP
4	09/09/41		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Yak-1		Yel’nya	163 IAP
	10/09/41		1/?	Hs 126	Shared destroyed	Yak-1		Khmary	163 IAP
5	04/10/41		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Yak-1		Yel’nya	163 IAP
6	11/10/41		1	He 111	Destroyed	Yak-1		Spas-Demensk	163 IAP
	1942
7	21/01/42		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Yak-1		Kholm	163 IAP
	04/02/42		1/2	Hs 126	Shared destroyed	Yak-1		Kholm	163 IAP
8	11/02/42		1	Ju 52/3m	Destroyed	Yak-1		Kholm airfield	163 IAP
9	11/02/42		1	Ju 52/3m	Destroyed	Yak-1		Kholm airfield	163 IAP
	20/02/42		1/2	Ju 52/3m	Shared destroyed	Yak-1		NW Kuzenkino	163 IAP
10	26/02/42		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Yak-1		SE Kholm airfield	163 IAP
11	11/07/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-1		Belyy	163 IAP
12	02/08/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-1		Rhzev area	163 IAP
13	05/08/42		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Yak-1		Rhzev area	163 IAP
14	10/08/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-1		Santalovo	163 IAP
15	24/08/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-1		Rhzev	163 IAP
16	25/08/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-1		Rhzev area	163 IAP
17	27/08/42		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-1		Rhzev area	163 IAP
18	28/08/42		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Yak-1		Santalovo	163 IAP
	1943
	16/01/43		1/2	FW 189 (b)	Shared destroyed	LaGG-3		Sady	157 IAP
19	05/07/43		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	Yak-7B		Yezhiluta	157 IAP
20	06/07/43		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Yak-7B		W Ponyri	157 IAP
21	07/07/43		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Yak-7B		S Vozy	157 IAP
22	19/08/43		1	Ju 88	Destroyed	Yak-7B		Novo-Yamskaya - Semonovskaya	157 IAP
	1944
23	23/02/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Yak-9		Novosolki	157 IAP
24	23/02/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Yak-9		W Rogachev	157 IAP
25	01/05/44		1	FW 189	Destroyed	Yak-1B		S Liski	157 IAP
26	11/08/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	Yak-3		Nova Volya	157 IAP

Biplane victories: 1 destroyed.
TOTAL: 26 and 5 shared destroyed.
(a) Claimed in a taran ramming attack.
(b) Not verified with Luftwaffe records.

Sources:
All aces of Stalin 1936–1953 – Mikhail Bykov, 2014
Russian Fighter Aces of 1914-1953 years
Soviet Aces 1936-1953
Soviet Fighter Pilots 1936-1953 - Mikhail Bykov