Petrov was the son of a schoolteacher; at the age of 20 he moved to Moscow and became a writer at
Gudok, the railway workers’ newspaper, where he met Ilya Ilf. In 1935, the two writers travelled to the USA, and spent two months driving from New York to California; they published the story of their travels as
Odnoetazhnaia Amerika (
One-Storied America). Following
Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, Petrov became a war correspondent. He was killed in a plane crash while returning from
besieged Sevastopol. The short film
Envelope was dedicated to him. He was the brother of
Valentin Kataev. ==References==