Jahangir Baghirov was born to Mir Jafar Baghirov and his Russian wife Mariya Sergeyeva in
Astrakhan. He was given a second, Russian name, Vladimir. Shortly before the
German invasion of the Soviet Union, Jahangir Baghirov graduated from the International Faculty of
Moscow State University, as well as from the Yeysk Military Aviation School and the Tashkent Military Academy. In 1938, he started his military service, initially in the
Red Army. From 15 July 1941 he served as a
platoon commander of the 616th Rifle Regiment on the
Soviet Western Front. The same year, on 10 October, he was wounded in both arms. On 4 February 1943, Baghirov in a letter to his father, wrote: "For two and a half months now, I have been out of place, parasitising on food, which is now so costly, sitting idle when the motherland is in danger... If you only knew how ashamed I am to look people in the eye, being young, healthy and sitting out in the rear. Please speed up my departure for the frontline. I'm willing to fight on anything. I don't need their renowned planes, which I've been waiting for two and a half months for. I'm even willing to fly a
U-2, and I'll still be fighting... I can wait another week, then I'll be off to the first unit I'll meet, and then to the frontline". After hospital treatment, Baghirov, having previous flight training, was sent to
Rustavi Military Aviation School and from there he was assigned to the 40th Guards Aviation Regiment. There he mastered the
La-5 fighter and from 1 May 1943 started his pilot service. Within the regiment, Baghirov participated in 19
scrambles and 5
dogfights, receiving 17 hours and 30 minutes of flight experience. ==Death==