The Soviet Air Forces was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces were formed from components of the Imperial Russian Air Service in 1917, and faced their greatest test during World War II. The groups were also involved in the Korean War, and dissolved along with the Soviet Union itself in 1991–92. Former Soviet Air Forces' assets were subsequently divided into several air forces of former Soviet republics, including the new Russian Air Force. "March of the Pilots" was its song.
The Soviet Air Defence Forces was the air defence branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Formed in 1941, it continued being a service branch of the Russian Armed Forces after 1991 until it was merged into the Air Force in 1998. Unlike Western air defence forces, V-PVO was a branch of the military unto itself, separate from the Soviet Air Force (VVS) and Air Defence Troops of Ground Forces. During the Soviet period it was generally ranked third in importance of the Soviet services, behind the Strategic Missile Troops and the Ground Forces.
The Northern Front was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War.
Rogachevo is a military air base on Novaya Zemlya, Russia located near the settlement of Rogachevo, 9 km northeast of Belushya Guba. It was originally used as a staging base for intercontinental Long Range Aviation bomber flights. The base developed an interceptor role during the 1960s, partly to deter SR-71 operations in the Arctic region.
Afrikanda is a military air base in Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It is located just north of the village of the same name. Though it is built for fighter operations with 30 revetments, it has largely served the interceptor aircraft role.
Yevgeny Yakovlevich Savitsky was a Soviet World War II fighter ace who later became a marshal of aviation.
The Byelorussian Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces. Originally formed just before the World War I as the Minsk Military District out of the remnants of the Vilno Military District and the Warsaw Military District, it was headed by the Russian General Eugen Alexander Ernst Rausch von Traubenberg.
With the outbreak of the Russian Civil War it was reorganized into the Western Front and in April 1924 it was renamed to the Western Military District. In October 1926 it was redesignated the Belorussian Military District, with its staff in Smolensk. And in July 1940 it was renamed the Western Special Military District. It covered the territory of the Byelorussian SSR and the western part of the RSFSR.
The Baku Air Defence Army was formed on the Eastern Front of World War II, following the decree of the USSR State Defense Committee of April 5, 1942. Previously known as the Baku Air Defence Corps, its main objective became sheltering the Baku oil fields from German raids. The Wehrmacht had been planning the capture of the oil field under the codename Operation Edelweiss. During the intense German air reconnaissance in May–October, 1942 the Army included the 8th Air Defence Fighter Corps, seven anti-aircraft regiments, one anti-aircraft machine-gun regiment, a searchlight regiment, a barrage balloon regiment and some other units. During its actions, the Army downed eight aircraft.
The 6th Red Banner Leningrad Army of Air and Air Defence Forces is an Air Army of the Russian Air Force.
The 11th Army of VVS and PVO was a formation of the Russian Air Force, which was located in the Russian Far East and Pacific Coast area, and its zone of responsibility covered the Far East Military District.
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 Guards Stalingrad Bomber Aviation Division was an Aviation Division of the Soviet Air Force. It was 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.
28th Guards Leningrad Order of Kutuzov Fighter Aviation Regiment was an aviation regiment of the Soviet Air Forces during the Second World War, the Korean War, and became part of the Russian Air Force after 1991.
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.
The 10th Independent Red Banner Air Defence Army was an army of the Soviet Air Defence Forces, active from 1960 to 1994. The headquarters was at Arkhangelsk, Arkhangelsk Oblast.
The 180th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment was a military unit of the Red Army Air Force, which took part in the fighting of the Great Patriotic War, and then became part of the Russian Air Defence Forces and finally the Russian Air Force.
The 176th Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO was a fighter regiment of the Soviet Air Defense Forces during World War II and the Cold War. The unit was disbanded in March 1960.
The 761st Fighter Aviation Regiment was a fighter regiment (IAP) of the Soviet Air Force during World War II that became part of the Soviet Air Defense Force (PVO) during the Cold War as the 761st Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO. Converted to the 761st Training Aviation Regiment in 1965, it became part of the Russian Air Force after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union and was disbanded in 2009 as a result of military reforms, but reformed by 2017.
The 162nd Fighter Aviation Regiment was a fighter regiment (IAP) of the Soviet Air Force during World War II that became part of the Soviet Air Defense Force (PVO) during the Cold War as the 162nd Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO. It was disbanded in 1959 during the reorganization of the PVO.
