2 December] 1917 to a Belarusian peasant family in the village of Koshelovo, currently located within the Gomel oblast of present-day Belarus.

Before his plane was hit Golovachev did manage to shoot down one of the attackers, but while returning to base he realized that the undercarriage was damaged too.

Not long after returning to combat, he was hospitalized again after crashing into the Don River on 23 August; after shooting down a Ju 88, he was hit by enemy cannon fire and lost consciousness.

He managed to get the aircraft back into level flight after waking up, but the tail of the plane soon fell off resulting in him crashing into the river.

As a lieutenant in Amet-khan's squadron, Golovachev quickly increased his tally of aerial victories and participated in successful dogfights against German aircraft even when heavily outnumbered.

[5] Golovachev performed an aerial ramming on 30 December 1944 during the fighting for East Prussia after running out of ammunition while trying to shoot down a Ju 188 on a reconnaissance mission.