 Eventually he was transferred to the 17th Fighter Aviation Regiment, which he flew with for the remainder of the war.While on the eastern front he flew 113 sorties on the P-39 and gained two aerial victories, and after the capitulation of Nazi Germany he regiment was transferred to the Far East, where he flew just three sorties on the P-63 during the short war with Japan.After the war he was promoted to flight commander and became a member of the Communist Party in 1947.