Born in Moscow. From 1954 he served in the Army,graduating from Armavir military aviation pilot school in 1956. He served in Air Force front-line units. Between 1963-1965 he worked as a test-pilot of Tbilissi aviation plant. In 1965 he joined A.I.Mikoyan EDB as a test pilot and took part in testing MiG-21, MiG-23 and MiG-25 airplanes. Made the maiden flight of and tested the MiG-23U.
Set two world aviation records (one of them absolute). He was killed in crash of during a test flight of a MiG-23 aircraft. He was awarded the Medal of de Lavo (FAI) (1967).
