The Ilyushin Il-2Shturmovik is a ground-attack aircraft produced by the Soviet Union in large numbers during the Second World War. The Il-2 was never given an official name and shturmovik is the generic Russian word meaning ground attack aircraft. The word also appears in Western sources as Stormovik and Sturmovik, neither of which give correct pronunciation in English.
The 4th Air and Air Defence Forces Army is an air army of the Russian Air Force, part of the Southern Military District and headquartered in Rostov-on-Don.
The 16th Red Banner Air Army was the most important formation of the Special Purpose Command. Initially formed during the Second World War as a part of the Soviet Air Force, it was from its 2002 reformation to its 2009 disbandment the tactical air force component of the Moscow Military District. The 16th Air Army took part in the Battle of Berlin with 28 Aviation divisions and 7 Separate aviation regiments, and was located with the GSFG in East Germany until 1994. Withdrawn to Kubinka in that year, the army was disbanded and reformed as a corps in 1998. From 1949 to 1968, it was designated as the 24th Air Army.
The 40th Army of the Soviet Ground Forces was an army-level command that participated in World War II from 1941 to 1945 and was reformed specifically for the Soviet–Afghan War from 1979 to circa 1990. The Army became the land forces arm of the Soviet occupational force in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan.
An Aviation Division was a type of formation of the Military Air Forces of the Red Army during the Second World War, the Soviet Air Forces, Soviet Air Defence Forces (PVO) and Aviation of the Military Naval Fleet, and since 1991 remain major formations within the Military Air Forces of the Russian Federation.
The 1st Air Army was an Air Army in the Soviet Air Force which served during World War II. It was formed on May 10, 1942, within the Soviet Western Front, and renamed the 26th Air Army on January 10, 1949, in the Belorussian Military District.
The 2nd Air Army was an air army of the Red Army Air Force during the Second World War.
The 22nd Guards Donbass Red Banner Heavy Bomber Aviation Division is a division of the Russian Aerospace Force's Long-Range Aviation branch having previously been a Soviet Air Forces formation. It was a Long Range Aviation division active from 1942 to 2008–9. Included in the 37th Air Army High Command. Commander of the division was Major General Alexander Blazhenko. It saw illustrious service during the Second World War, including supply of the Red Army in the Demyansk Pocket and the bombing of Berlin.
The 76th Air Army was a unit of the Soviet Air Forces from 1949–1980, and again from 1988–98. As the 13th Air Army, it was originally formed on 25 November 1942 and based on air units of the Leningrad Front.
The 1st Guards Stalingrad Composite Aviation Division is an Aviation Division of the Russian Air Force. It was originally formed as the 226th Assault Aviation Division in May 1942 and became the 1st Guards Stalingrad Assault Aviation Division for its performance in the Battle of Stalingrad. The division fought in the Melitopol Offensive, Crimean Offensive, East Prussian Offensive and the Battle of Königsberg. By the end of the war, the division had been awarded the Order of the Red Banner twice, the Order of Lenin and the Orders of Kutuzov and Suvorov 2nd class. Postwar, the division relocated to Belarus. In April 1956, it became a bomber division but was converted to a fighter-bomber unit in 1957. In 1989, it became an bomber unit again and moved to Krasnodar in 1993. At Krasnodar it became an assault unit. The division moved to Yeysk in 2002 and disbanded in 2009. It was reformed in 2013 with the addition of extra fighter units.
The Order of Lenin Moscow Air Defence District was a formation of the Soviet Air Defence Forces and the Russian Air Defence Forces, which existed from 1954 to 1998, to fulfill the tasks of anti-aircraft defense of administrative and economic facilities. The district administration was in Moscow.
3rd Air Army was an Air Army of the Soviet Armed Forces during the Second World War. It was formed May 16, 1942, in accordance with a People's Commissariat for Defence order of 5 May 1942 on the basis of the Air Forces of the Kalinin Front.
Vasily Ivanovich Andrianov was a Soviet Air Force major general and twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Andrianov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union twice for making 177 successful attack missions during World War II. Postwar, Andrianov continued his career in the Air Force and taught at the Military Academy of the General Staff. After retiring in 1981 as a Major general, Andrianov died in 1999 and was buried at the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery.
Ivan Semyonovich Polbin was a General-major of Aviation in the Soviet Air Forces who advanced the use of dive-bombing techniques during World War II. As one of the few generals that regularly flew in combat, he was killed in action while leading a group of Pe-2 dive bombers on a mission.
The 8th Air Army was a military formation of the Soviet Air Forces, active from around 1942 to 1949.
The 3rd Guards Baranovichi Red Banner Fighter Aviation Regiment is a fighter regiment of the Russian Air Force.
The 5th Air Army was an air army of the Soviet Air Forces and later the Ukrainian Air Force. First formed in 1942 during World War II, the army provided air support to Soviet forces through the rest of the war, and was renumbered as the 48th Air Army in 1949. It was stationed in the Odessa Military District during the postwar period, and in 1968 its original number was restored. Between 1980 and 1988 it was known as the Air Forces of the Odessa Military District. Redesignated as the 5th Air Army again in 1988, it became part of the Ukrainian Air Force after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and was converted into an aviation corps in 1994.
Vasily Georgievich Ryazanov was a General-lieutenant of Aviation in the Soviet Air Forces who was twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for his leadership of the 1st Guards Assault Aviation Corps during World War II. Ryazanov was responsible for the development of tactics that consisted of the ground-attack aircraft being directed from a command post on the ground close to the frontline, and he was praised by Marshal Ivan Konev for having the best attack aircraft in the Air Force.
The 15th Air Army was a military formation of the Soviet Air Forces, active from July 1942 until December 1993.
The 3rd Guards Iasi Order of Suvorov Fighter Aviation Corps was an aviation corps of the Soviet Air Force formed during World War II. The corps was formed in December 1942 as the 4th Fighter Aviation Corps and received Guards status in July 1944. Postwar, the corps was renumbered as the 72nd Guards Fighter Aviation Corps and transferred to the Soviet Air Defense Forces. It was reorganized as an air defense division in 1960.
Order of the Red Banner 
Order of Kutuzov 
