Yakovlev Aces of World War 2

When the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, 425 Yak-1s had been built, although just half that number had actually been assigned to line regiments. Only Moscow Air Defence Region’s 11 IAP was completely equipped and operational with 62 Yak-1s, while a further 30 Yaks were shared between other regiments protecting the Soviet capital. In Kiev Special District, Sambora-based 20 IAP had 61 Yaks (together with 60 I-16s and I-153s) for 63 pilots, while 91 IAP had received just four Yak-1s to supplement its Polikarpov biplanes.
In Western District, 123 IAP had recently received 20 Yak-1s to supplement its 61 I-153s. Leningrad District’s 158 IAP had 20 Yak-1s, Baltic District had only eight with 13 IAP at Pyarnau, and 20 had been shared between the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets. The remaining Yaks were either being sent, or had been distributed in ones and twos, to individual units. By contrast, 917 MiG-3s had been deployed in the border districts, which meant that relatively few of the valuable Yak-1s were caught on the ground in the Luftwaffe’s surprise attack on the morning of 22 June.
On the Western Front, the Yak-1 soon began playing a significant role in the defence of Moscow, with Col Kogrushev’s 11 IAP contributing the lion’s share of Soviet successes. The regiment’s first victory went to Lt Stepan Goshko, who intercepted a He 111 over Rzhev on the night of 2 July. He was flying one of the pre-series Yak-1s at the time, and when his guns failed, Goshko brought the bomber down by ramming it. His aircraft was damaged, but he made it to base. Goshko saw most of his action during the first period of the war, and was fated to survive with a total of six individual and eight shared victories.