new
here is a new rubric here,"ace of war".
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Biplane fighter aces
Soviet Union
Kapitan Aleksandr Fedorovich Avdeyev HSU
1917 - 12 August 1942
Aleksandr Fedorovich Avdeyev was born 1917 in the village Velka Talinka. He lived in Lyubina near Moscow and worked in a factory. He learned to fly in a civilian aeroclub were he received his license in 1937. In 1938 he joined the army and attended the Borisoglebsk Military Air College.
During the Winter War, Avdeyev served in the Leningrad area in the 153 IAP as a Leytenant and was later promoted to Starshiy Leytenant and Flight commander.
After the German attack on the Soviet Union, the 153 IAP defended Leningrad City using I-153 Tchaika biplanes.
On 19 July 1941, Avdeyev claimed two Bf109s.
One day his flight attacked a formation of Ju88s protected by Bf109s (approx. 20 aircraft altogether) over the Leningrad area. He shot down one of the bombers in flames but his aircraft was damaged by return fire and caught fire. He continued however to attack and shot down another bomber before he bailed out and parachuted to safety.
He was wounded during this combat and hospitalised. When he returned from hospital he was promoted to Kapitan.
On 23 September 1941 he attacked AA guns position near Pushkino together with others and destroyed them.
The next day he led a formation of fighter-bombers from 153 IAP in an attack on an enemy motorised column on the eastern outskirts of Leningrad and they shot up more than ten vehicles.
In the beginning of October 1941, during a reconnaissance flight he and Nikolay Lebedev found five He111s. Avdeyev shot down the formation leader but Lebedev's guns jammed and defending fire damaged his aircraft. Avdeyev saved his friend by hazardous manoeuvres so that the Heinkels had to return without success.
On 5 October, he shot down a Bf109.
In 1941 he was awarded with the Order of the Red Banner for 189 flights and 11 aerial victories.
Avdeyev was also decorated with the Order of the Red Star in December 1941 after having discovered a disguised German long-range artillery battery during a reconnaissance mission..
On 1 January 1942, he added another victory.
153 IAP was the first regiment to be re-equipped with the Bell Airacobra (Mk.Is produced for the RAF but shipped to the USSR instead). The first sorties with the new fighters were flown on 30 June 1942 and the unit was also later re-based to Lipetsk Airbase.
In August 1942 his unit fought over the Voronezh area.
On 12 August 1942, the unit attacked enemies in the Novaya Usman area. During this combat he was killed when ramming a Bf109.
It seems that most probably this combat was against Bf109s from II/JG 77, which was the only Luftwaffe fighter unit based in the Voronezh area in August 1942, but this has not been possible to verify. Hungarian Re.2000 fighters were stationed south of Voronezh, but they didn’t suffer any losses on this date.
According to Russian sources his victim was 46-victory ace Feldwebel Franz Schulte of 6./JG 77, who went missing during the day.
On 10 February 1943 he was posthumously awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin.
At the time of his death, Avdeyev was credited with 12 biplane victories and a total of 13.
Biplane victories: 12 destroyed.
TOTAL: 13 destroyed.
source :
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/soviet_avdeyev.htm