Russian Fighter Planes and Pilots

in WW2, Korea, Vietnam, thru the present

By Stephen Sherman, Mar. 2011. Updated January 27, 2012.

Here are a series of articles on acepilots.com about Russian aviation, mostly World War Two, Korea, and Vietnam, as well as many profiles of post-war MiG fighter jets. They are by no means comprehensive; contributions are welcome!

Pre-war

Alexander de Seversky - Russian Ace of World War One, aircraft designer & founder of Republic Aviation

World War Two era

Soviet P-39 Aces in World War 2 - Russian Pilots, such as Aleksandr Pokryshkin, who flew the Bell Airacobra (not primarily a tank-buster)

Korean War era

Russian Aces over Korea - pilots who flew the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 Fagot, the small, agile, and lethal opponent of the F-86 Sabre

Yevgeny Pepelyayev - top ace of the Korean War, Russian VVS MiG-15 ace shot down 19 US planes over "MiG Alley," WW2 veteran, CO of 196th IAP from April 1951 to January 1952

Nikolai Sutyagin's claims - a review and analysis of the claims of Nikolai Sutyagin, a Soviet ace, the highest claiming ace of the 17th IAP in Korea

Vietnam War era

North Vietnamese Aces - MiG-17 and MiG-21 pilots, Phantom and "Thud" Killers