CONTROLS

AG:1
AG:2
AG:3 Airbrake
AG:4
AG:5
AG:6 lights
AG:7 Drop external tank
AG:8 canopy

VTOL: Flaps
TRIM

Photos by: L1nus
FT edensk

Nikolai Vasilyevich

Sutyagin 5 May 1923 – 12 November 1986) was a Soviet fighter pilot in the Second World War and the Korean War. He is considered by most Russian sources to be the top ace of the Korean War, with 22 victories.

Russian pilots were under strict ground-controlled interception control at all times, and were expressly forbidden from leaving the North Korean airspace, and flying over either ocean area, or the UN controlled South Korean airspace, lest a downed aircraft with a Russian speaking pilot be captured and the subsequent involvement of the Soviet combat forces in the war exposed.

Therefore, all air combat occurred over friendly territory.

As a result of the requirements to physically confirm victories thru collection of pieces of the actual wreckage, Soviet ground units were created and issued trucks and radio operators, for liaison with North Korean ground forces, whose specific function was to seek out and locate the wreckage of UN aircraft that had been downed over the North Korean controlled lands.

Sutyagin's record is generally held to be 22 solo victories, with another two shared. However at least one source suggests that only five victories are verifiable.