Major General (since 1983), Russian Airforce; graduated from Flight School Stalingrad in 1950; pilot of the airforce from 1950 to 1957; graduated from Highschool for Military Pilots, Arvamir, 1952 and worked then as an instructor pilot, 1958 he graduated from testpilot school; since 1965 he worked for the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI); since 1958 he worked for the OKB Mikoyan, from 1962 until his death he was leading test pilot; from 1961 until 1977 he got 18 world records for pilots (including three absolute records on E-166 and MiG-25-jets; since August 31, 1977 he holds the world record for planes that take off under their own power (123,524 feet); 1977 he performed the maiden flight of a MiG-29; 1966 he became Hero of the Soviet Union and 1969 he meritious test pilot of the Soviet Union; later he was involved in the EPOS "Spiral"-Program (May 1976 - September 1978); he died in a crash of a MiG-31 (together with Valeri S. Zaytsev, test-navigator)