Upon arriving at the warfront in March 1943 as a pilot in the 505th Attack Aviation Regiment on the Southern Front, he began flying combat sorties on the Il-2. Later that same month the unit was honored with the guards designation and renamed to the 75th Guards Attack Aviation Regiment. During a mission in November he was badly injured during a flight after being attacked by two Bf 109s, but despite getting blood in his eyes he went on the target before returning. Despite having arrived in the regiment as a just an enlisted pilot, he quickly rose through the ranks, becoming promoted to captain in January 1945 in addition to moving up the chain of command to flight commander, deputy squadron commander, squadron commander, and eventually regimental navigator. On the day after he was declared a Hero of the Soviet Union for the first time, he was killed in action during a mission after being shot down by anti-aircraft fire from the ground. His colleagues, including
Anatoly Nedbaylo, avenged him by targeting the anti-aircraft gun that shot him down, heavily opening fire on it. At the time of his death he had already been nominated for a second gold star, since he had been nominated for it on 16 April. During his life he was nominated for the title three times: the first time in April 1944 which was not successful, again in October 1944 for 144 sorties which was awarded on 19 April 1945, and on 16 April 1945 for flying 227 sorties, which was awarded posthumously. In total he flew 228 combat sorties on the Il-2, targeting a variety of enemy equipment which included damaging or destroying 17 tanks, a train, 12 aircraft on the ground, and 32 cars. He never had the opportunity to wear the gold star medal since he died before the first gold star medal was given to him. ==Awards==