Lavrinenkov was born on 17 May 1919 in the village of Ptakhino, at the time located within the Smolensky Uyezd of the Smolensk Governorate of the Russian SFSR before the formation of the Soviet Union.

After completing his seventh year of secondary education on Peresna he attended a trade school in the city of Smolensk.

Upon graduating from the trade school in 1935 he was employed at a local aircraft factory, and in 1939 he completed training at the Smolensk aeroclub before he entered the military in February 1940.

In November, a regiment of the 102nd Fighter Aviation Division composed of the instructors from the school was formed for providing air cover in Stalingrad.

After retraining to fly the Yak-1 he was reassigned in June 1942 to the 753rd Fighter Aviation Regiment as a flight commander, and on 8 July he scored his first aerial victory when he shot down an Bf 109 during an intense counterattack.

During a mission with Yekaterina Budanova on 26 December 1942 he shot down an He 111; the fuselage and wing of his plane was badly damaged by enemy fire, but he was able to land safely.

In hopes that the Germans would be less careful in watching him if he pretended to have no intentions of escaping, he initially made no attempts to resist his captors.

[5] At the end of the year he was nominated for the title Hero of the Soviet Union again for having accumulated 28 solo victories, which he received on 1 July 1944.

[12] After being relieved of command of the regiment in August, Lavrinenkov attended the M. V. Frunze Military Academy, which he graduated from in November 1948.