Hero of the Soviet Union Jr Lt S.G. Ridny

The 126th IAP was re-equipped with the P-40E in May 1942. Located in the deep rear after the Germans' retreat, it combined its training on the Kittyhawk with its air defense mission of Moscow and environs in the quiet situation until the end of August. At the end of August it was also tasked to provide escort to government aircraft flying along the route from Moscow to Arzamas to Kuybyshev.

Subsequently the regiment was transferred to a more dangerous sector of the front-near Stalingrad. The 126th IAP, formed on TOE 015/174, but having a total of 18 aircraft (NN 818-821, 830, 841, 842, 844, 979, 1014, 1018, 1027-32, and 1104 [11]) and 50 percent of its maintenance personnel strength, arrived at the 268th Fighter Air Division (IAD) on 28 August and was stationed at the Solodovka airfield.

The intensity of the aerial combat here was so fierce that even the experienced and well-trained regiment was burned up like a match in this hell in just a week. It was not so bad at first - on 29 August the pilots shot down a Bf-109, Ju-88, and FW-189 at the cost of a single P-40E; on 30 August-5 Bf-109Fs and 5 He-111s with the loss of 3 P-40Es; on the 31st-10 Bf-109Fs, 1 He-111, and 1 Ju-87 for 2 destroyed and 2 damaged P-40Es. But the crossover came on 5 September - it cost 4 Kittyhawks (two destroyed in combat and two in a mid-air collision) for 2 Bf-109Fs and 1 Ju-88. The regiment commander, Major V. M. Naydenko, was shot down and seriously wounded on this day. The four surviving aircraft were assigned to combat patrol over their own airfield.

The regiment flew a total of 194 aircraft sorties by 13 September 1942, all of which (rare occasion!) were combat sorties that involved engagement with the enemy. The greater share (163 combat sorties) was to escort Il-2 Sturmovik’s. The pilots of 126 IAP conducted 29 group and 24 individual aerial engagements in which 36 enemy aircraft were destroyed (23 Bf-109F, 6 He-111, 3 Ju-88, 1 Bf-110, 1 Ju-87, 1 Hs-123, and 1 FW-189). The regiment lost 13 aircraft, 7 pilots did not return from combat missions, and 5 were wounded. After withdrawal to the rear on 18 September 1942, 126 IAP was re-equipped with the La-5 and subsequently fought only in Soviet-manufactured aircraft.

Government activities and foreign representations had been evacuated from Moscow to Kuybyshev in 1941.
Obviously these are factory numbers because they do not correspond to either USAF or RAF serial numbers.

http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/romanenko/p-40/index.htm