Yevstigneyeh was born in 1917, he spent his initial military service working as a lathe operator at an aircraft repair base before he learnt to fly. It was not until 1943 that he commenced combat flying, flying an La-5s he was shot down and wounded during the Battle Of Kursk. Awarded the HSU (Hero of The Soviet Union) twice Yevstigneyev flew over 300 sorties and scored 53 victories. After the War he became a Major General of Aviation.