Grigory Okhay

In January 1940 he was deployed to the warfront of the Soviet-Finnish war as part of the 39th Bomber Regiment. During the conflict he flew 28 sorties on an SB bomber, attacking Finnish targets. Once the war ended he was transferred and began attending the Ryazan School of Navigators.[3]

After completing training for the Yak-1 he served as a flight instructor in the 13th Reserve Fighter Wing in the early phase of the war. During that time he trained 85 pilots before entering the 897th Fighter Aviation Regiment. Most sources indicate that he had no aerial victories during the war, but he did fly in the Battle of Kursk.[4]

In October 1945 Okhay was transferred to the 18th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, where he was a senior lieutenant and deputy squadron commander. In December that year he became a squadron commander in the 272nd Fighter Regiment, where he remained until switching to the 523rd Fighter Regiment.[3]

Shortly before being deployed to Northern China, Okhay was promoted in his regiment to deputy commander of training and combat tactics. During the war shot down an estimated eleven aircraft over the course of 122 sorties and 68 dogfights in less than a year, flying the MiG-15. After his seventh shootdown he was nominated for the title Hero of the Soviet Union, which was awarded on 13 November 1951.[3][4] He observed that the American Sabre performed better than the MiG-15 at lower altitudes but was disadvantaged at higher altitudes and took advantage of this information in combat.[5]

• Krylov, Leonid; Tepsurkaev, Yuriy (2008), Soviet MiG-15 Aces of the Korean War, Oxford, United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing, ISBN 978-1-84603-299-8
• Seidov, Igor (2016). Советские асы корейской войны. Moscow: Фонд содействия авиации «Русские витязи». ISBN 9785903389353. OCLC 970400945.
• Werrell, Kenneth P. (2005), Sabres Over MiG Alley: The F-86 and the Battle for Air Superiority in Korea, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, ISBN 978-1-59114-933-0