Vasiliy Zaytsev was born in Muravka on 18 April 1920.

He joined the VVS on 20 December 1937 and in 1938, he graduated from Voroshilovgrad Military Aviation Pilot School.

He served in 82 IAP of the Air Force of the Transcaucasian Military District.

From 10 December 1941, mladshiy leitenant Zaysev served in 482 IAP and he was to remain in this regiment until the end of the war.
Initially he flew Polikarpov I-153s on the North Caucasian Front.

Between 16 September 1942 and 10 December 1942, the regiment retrained on LaGG-3s.

They retrained on La-5s between 27 February 1943 and 24 June 1943.
They returned to combat on 7 July 1943 as part of the Bryansk Front.

They were removed from combat on 21 August 1943 for retraining.

The regiment went back for combat operations on 17 October as part of the Kalinin Front (from 20 October the 1st Baltic Front).

Between 7 March 1944 and 19 June 1944, the regiment was in the reserve but on 20 June they returned to combat on the 3rd Belorussian Front.

On 10 September, the regiment again went back into the reserve before being committed to the 1st Ukrainian Front on 14 November 1944.

In December 1944, they received their first La-7s.

Major Zaytsev ended the war with 2 biplane victories and a total of 16.
These had been claimed during 448 combat missions and 42 air combats.

On 27 June 1945, Zaytsev was decorated with the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin.

He continued to serve in the Air Force after the war and in 1957 he graduated from the Air Force Academy.

On 23 May 1964, polkovnik Zaytsev was placed in the reserve.

Zaytsev died on 20 April 2001.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1942
1	10/04/42		1	He 111	Destroyed	I-153		Novo-Titarovskaya	482 IAP
2	16/08/42		1	FW 189 (a)	Destroyed	I-153		Kurgannaya	482 IAP
	1944
3	03/03/44		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	La-5		S Lake Gusino	482 IAP
4	03/03/44		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	La-5		SW Lake Bratilovo	482 IAP
5	02/08/44		1	Bf 109	Destroyed	La-5		S Shirvindt	482 IAP
6	04/08/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	La-5		western outskirts of Stallupenen	482 IAP
7	15/08/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	La-5		S Shukli	482 IAP
8	17/08/44		1	FW 190	Destroyed	La-5		Bulovlyany	482 IAP
	1945
9	17/01/45		1	FW 190	Destroyed	La-5		Radonek	482 IAP
10	10/02/45		1	FW 190	Destroyed	La-7		Neisdorf	482 IAP
11	15/02/45		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	La-7		Bernau	482 IAP
12	15/02/45		1	Ju 87	Destroyed	La-7		Bernau	482 IAP
13	17/02/45		1	FW 190	Destroyed	La-7		SE Forst	482 IAP
14	19/02/45		1	FW 190	Destroyed	La-7		Karen	482 IAP
15	19/04/45		1	FW 190	Destroyed	La-7		Barzig	482 IAP
16	21/04/45		1	FW 190	Destroyed	La-7		E Kalau	482 IAP

Biplane victories: 2 destroyed.
TOTAL: 16 destroyed.
(a) Not verified with Luftwaffe records.

Sources:
All aces of Stalin 1936-1953 – Mikhail Bykov, 2014
Soviet Aces 1936-1953
Soviet Fighter Pilots 1936-1953 - Mikhail Bykov