Georgy Baevsky was the son of a Soviet diplomat who spent much of his youth in Germany. Back in Russia he graduated from flying school in 1940 and was immediately assigned as an instructor. A shortage of pilots gave him his chance for combat in April 1943 when he was assigned to 5 GIAP flying La-5s. Although this was intended as a temporary 30 day assignment his new unit managed to keep Baevsky permanently. Starting with around nine times the number of hours of the average new pilot he quickly began scoring kills. In August he was shot down behind enemy lines but a squadmate landed and flew him back to base with them both squeezed into the cockpit. By the end of the war Baevsky had scored 19 kills and was a Hero of the Soviet Union.
Baevsky briefly combat tested both the Yak-9U and La-7, but scored all his kills in La-5s and La-5FNs. His Yak-9U was adorned with nose art consisting of a Tiger mauling a deer.
