Despite having started in the regiment as a regular pilot, he quickly mastered the new
La-5 and was promoted to flight commander. He opened his tally on 6 July 1943 with the shootdown of a Ju 87 dive bomber. Kozhedub became friends with
Kirill Yevstigneev, an accomplished flying ace; although they did not often fly together, Kozhedub acquired many of his tactics and, in a spirit of competition, they shared their experiences using different techniques.
Vasily Mukhin, who often flew as Kozhedub's wingman, also went on to become a flying ace. Over the next few months Kozhedub steadily gained more aerial victories and a promotion to squadron commander, but in the first half of October he rapidly increased his tally with 14 shootdowns. On 10 October 1943 he was nominated for the title Hero of the Soviet Union for flying 146 sorties, engaging in 27 aerial battles, and totaling 20 aerial victories; he was awarded the title on 4 February 1944. In July 1944 the 240th Fighter Regiment was honored with the Guards designation and renamed the 178th Fighter Aviation Regiment, and Kozhedub was nominated for a second gold star for 46 aerial victories across 256 sorties. He did not stay with his regiment much longer, though, having been reassigned as the deputy commander of the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, a special "free-hunting" regiment equipped with the new
Lavochkin La-7 fighter, per the initiative of Chief Marshal of Aviation
Aleksandr Novikov. There, he was rarely assigned such specific missions as escorting other aircraft or providing air support for troops, enabling him and his subordinates to tally more aerial victories. In mid-February 1945, during a free-hunting mission in an area south of Frankfurt with his wingman Dmitry Titarenko, Kozhedub shot down an Me 262 jet, thereby becoming the first Soviet pilot to do so. When Kozhedub and Titarenko encountered the Me 262, Kozhedub quickly accelerated from low to full speed; when the Me 262 banked left and slowed — spooked by tracer rounds fired by Titarenko — Kozhedub shot it down. By the end of the war, Kozhedub tallied 330 sorties, had engaged in 120 dogfights, and had shot down 64 enemy aircraft. Having gained all his aerial victories on the La-5F, La-5FN, and La-7, he expressed his strong preference for Lavochkin fighters, and met with
Semyon Lavochkin to comment on various aspects of the fighters' designs. Having been nominated for a third gold star in May 1945, he became thrice a Hero of the Soviet Union on 18 August 1945, and remained deputy commander of the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment based in
Schönwalde until September that year. Preferring short, intense attacks to stun and bring down enemy aircraft, one favorite technique he developed and used in the war involved darting at a target from below and subsequently opening fire only when extremely close. Kozhedub used this tactic very successfully against the Ju 87 dive bomber, gaining him an unsurpassed 18 shootdowns of the type (equal with
Arseny Vorozheykin). However, being so risky, the manoeuvre was neither promoted nor taught to young pilots. Though never shot down throughout the war, Kozhedub did experience several close calls. He nevertheless always managed to land his airplane, regardless of damage. ==Post-war era==