Aleksandr Alexandrovich Kozakov

Name:

Country:

Russia

Rank:

Polkovnik

Service:

Imperial Russian Air Service

Units:

4^th Corps Air Detachment
19^th Corps Fighter Detachment

Victories:

Born:

15 January 1889

Place of Birth:

Kherson Province

Died:

01 August 1919

Place of Death:

Near Benezniky

Russia's highest scoring ace was educated in military schools and entered the army in 1908. After serving in the cavalry, he transferred to aviation in 1913 and by the following year was posted to the 4th Corps Air Detachment in Poland where he flew reconnaissance and bombing missions in a Morane-Saulnier. Having made several unsuccessful attempts to bring down enemy aircraft by dangling explosives and grappling hooks beneath his plane, Kozakov scored his first victory in the spring of 1915 by ramming his opponent. In September 1915, he assumed command of the 19th Corps Air Detachment but scored no additional victories that year and only 2 more by August 1916 when he assumed command of the 1st Combat Air Group. In February 1917, his CAG was ordered to Romania where Kozakov scored eight more victories before being wounded in action on 27 June 1917. With 20 victories, he resigned his commission in January 1918 and joined the British Joint Military forces at Murmansk in June. Promoted to the rank of Major, he commanded the Slavo-British air detachment at Benezniky and continued flying combat missions until he was again wounded in January 1919. In March, he returned to duty but became deeply depressed by the withdrawal of British forces from Russia in the summer of 1919. On the evening of 1 August 1919, ignoring an invitation to a farewell dinner for British pilots, he took off in a Sopwith only to crash to his death a few moments later. Having watched Kozakov pull a loop at low altitude and stall the plane, Ira Jones concluded the Russian Ace of Aces "brought about his own death and staged it in the most dramatic manner."

Listed as Kosakoff in some sources.

Victories

	Date	Time	Unit	Aircraft	Opponent	Location
1	31 Mar 1915		4^th	Morane-Saulnier G (316)	Albatros C	Near Guzov-Volja
2	27 Jun 1916	1600	19^th	Nieuport 10 (222)	Albatros C	Lake Drisvjaty
3	29 Jul 1916	1500	19^th	Nieuport 10 (222)	Albatros C.III	Dvinsk
4	06 Sep 1916		19^th	Nieuport 11	Two-seater	Kovel
5	21 Dec 1916	1500	19^th	Nieuport 11	Hansa-Brandenburg C.I (27.14)	Lutsk
6	06 May 1917	0945	19^th	Nieuport 11	Hansa-Brandenburg C.I ¹	Brezazany
7	10 May 1917		19^th	Nieuport 11	Fokker ²	Aarniki
8	17 May 1917		19^th	Nieuport 11	LVG C ³	Podgaitsy
9	25 May 1917		19^th	Nieuport 17	EA	W of Konjukhi
10	08 Jun 1917	0800	19^th	Nieuport 17	Hansa-Brandenburg C.I (63.75) ³	W of Kozov
11	20 Jun 1917	0900	19^th	Nieuport 17	Rumpler C (4739/16) ³	Podgaitsy
12	27 Jun 1917	1700	19^th	Nieuport 17	EA	Lipazodoluo
13	27 Jun 1917	2100	19^th	Nieuport 17	Rumpler C ⁴	Stavetyn
14	27 Jul 1917		19^th	Nieuport 17	Hansa-Brandenburg C.I (26.27) ⁵	Obertyn
15	02 Aug 1917		19^th	Nieuport 17	Hansa-Brandenburg C.I (64.67) ⁵	Dolinyany
16	08 Aug 1917		19^th	Nieuport 17	EA ⁵	Ivane-Pusto
17	29 Aug 1917	1100	19^th	Nieuport 17	Albatros C.III	Lapkovtsy
18	11 Sep 1917	1600	19^th	Nieuport 17	Hansa-Brandenburg C.I (269.18)	Near Gusyatin
19	23 Sep 1917		19^th	Nieuport 17	Hansa-Brandenburg C.I (269.26)	S of Gusyatin
20	26 Oct 1917		19^th	Nieuport 17	EA ⁶	Scalat

1	Shared with Capt Pavel Argeyev, Ens Ernst Leman, 2Lt Zhabrov
2	Shared with Ens Ernst Leman, Capt Polyakov
3	Shared with Capt Pavel Argeyev
4	Shared with Ens Ernst Leman
5	Shared with Shangin

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