Arrested along with many other veterans of the Spanish Civil War on fabricated charges of being in an anti-Soviet conspiracy, he was eventually declared guilty of treason and shot without trial on orders of Lavrenty Beria in February 1942.

He held a variety of jobs, including working as a porter for train stations, a newspaper deliveryman, and telephone operator, before he enlisted in the Red Army to pursue an aviation career.

Not long after joining the Communist Party in 1918 he was deployed to combat zones of the Russian Civil War, where he repaired aircraft belonging to the 1st Aviation Artillery Squadron.

After combat on the Polish front he continued to pursue attempts to gain admittance to pilot school, but he failed mathematics portion of entrance exams due to his minimal education.

Immediately after the start of the war with Finland Stalin issued orders down the chain of command for the construction of an airbase on Dago Island, which was completely forested.

In January 1940 he was made commander of the newly formed air force Northwestern Front, which consisted of various bomber, fighter, and reconnaissance aviation units.

The over 500 aircraft under his command participated heavily in the attack on the Mannerheim Line of the Karelian isthmus, which often involved pilots making multiple sorties per day.

He was sent to Butyrskaya prison several days later and charged with participation in an anti-Soviet conspiracy based on the coerced testimonies of other high-ranking military officials arrested on orders of Beria in the purge of the Red Army and Air Force, including Yakov Smushkevich, Sergey Chernobrovkin, and Pavel Yusupov.

After he was shot on orders of Beria on 23 February 1942 and buried in an unknown location, he was officially stripped of his military awards by decree of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet on 15 May 1943.