911th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment

Last updated
911th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment
(1960–1993)
911th Fighter Aviation Regiment
(1942–1960)
Active1942–1993
Country
Branch
Type Aviation Regiment
Garrison/HQ Baranovichi
Engagements World War II
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Alexey Yeryomin
Aircraft flown
MiG-15

MiG-17

MiG-27

The 911th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment (911th IBAP/APIB since 1976) was an aviation regiment of the Soviet Air Force and later the Belarusian Air Force. It was formed in 1942 in the Soviet Far East as a fighter regiment and fought in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. After the end of the latter it was stationed in Sakhalin and then the Chukotka Peninsula until 1953, when it moved to Belarus, where it remained for most of the Cold War. In 1960 it was converted into a fighter-bomber aviation regiment. In 1989 it was transferred to East Germany, but withdrawn to Belarus in 1992, where it disbanded in 1993.

Soviet Air Forces Aerial warfare branch of the Soviet Unions armed forces

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.

Belarusian Air Force Aerial warfare branch of Belarus armed forces

The Air Force and Air Defence Forces of the Republic of Belarus is the air force of the Armed Forces of Belarus, formed in 1992 from the 26th Air Army of the Soviet Air Forces which had been serving in the Byelorussian SSR.

Soviet invasion of Manchuria

The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation or simply the Manchurian Operation, began on 9 August 1945 with the Soviet invasion of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. It was the last campaign of the Second World War, and the largest of the 1945 Soviet–Japanese War, which resumed hostilities between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Empire of Japan after almost six years of peace. Soviet gains on the continent were Manchukuo, Mengjiang and northern Korea. The Soviet entry into the war and the defeat of the Kwantung Army was a significant factor in the Japanese government's decision to surrender unconditionally, as it made apparent the Soviet Union had no intention of acting as a third party in negotiating an end to hostilities on conditional terms.

Contents

History

World War II

A Lavochkin La-5 similar to those operated by the regiment between 1944 and 1945. La5-red66.jpg
A Lavochkin La-5 similar to those operated by the regiment between 1944 and 1945.

The 911th Fighter Aviation Regiment (IAP) was formed between 25 July and 17 August 1942 at Matveyevka-2, an airfield near Matveyevka, Khabarovsk Krai, part of the 29th Fighter Aviation Division of the 10th Air Army. It was commanded by future Hero of the Soviet Union Major Alexey Yeryomin until December. [1] The 911th was equipped with obsolete Polikarpov I-16 fighters and on 24 November transferred to the 83rd Fighter Aviation Division. On 1 March 1943 the 911th transferred back to the 29th Fighter Aviation Division. Two weeks later, it was relocated to Pereyaslavka airfield, where it was rearmed with Polikarpov I-153 biplanes. On 13 April 1944 the regiment finally received modern Lavochkin La-5 fighters. In January 1945, Major Konstantin Kotelnikov took command of the regiment, which he led until December. On 23 May, the regiment was reequipped with the improved Lavochkin La-7. [2]

10th Air Army

The 10th Air Army was a unit of the Soviet Air Forces during the Cold War years.

Hero of the Soviet Union Highest award of the USSR awarded to Soviet citizens and foreigners for heroic acts

The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.

Polikarpov I-16 fighter aircraft

The Polikarpov I-16 was a Soviet single-engine single-seat fighter aircraft of revolutionary design; it was the world's first low-wing cantilever monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear to attain operational status and as such "introduced a new vogue in fighter design." The I-16 was introduced in the mid-1930s and formed the backbone of the Soviet Air Force at the beginning of World War II. The diminutive fighter, nicknamed "Ishak" or "Ishachok" by Soviet pilots, figured prominently in the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Battle of Khalkhin Gol and the Spanish Civil War – where it was called the Rata ("Rat") by the Nationalists or Mosca ("Fly") by the Republicans.

On 8 August, just before the Soviet invasion of Manchuria on the next day, the regiment had 57 La-7s and two La-5s. During the invasion of Manchuria, which ended on 3 September, the 911th flew 80 sorties, broken down as follows: four against Japanese troops, 38 to provide air cover to advancing Soviet troops, four against Japanese airfields, and 34 reconnaissance sorties. The regiment did not participate in air combat, and destroyed a Japanese aircraft and a train car on the ground, but lost one aircraft to an operational accident. [2]

Postwar

In 1947, the 911th was relocated to Bolshaya Elan in Sakhalin and a year later received Lavochkin La-11 long-range escort fighters. In July 1949 the regiment was transferred to Uelkal in the Chukotka Peninsula, becoming part of the 95th Mixed Aviation Division there. At Uelkal it assumed the mission of escorting Tupolev Tu-4 strategic bombers. In May 1950, before the beginning of the Korean War, pilot Captain V.S. Yefremov, flying out of Toyohara airfield in an La-11, reported intercepting and shooting down an American F-51 Mustang that he reported had been violating Soviet airspace. [2] In 1952 the regiment relocated to Anadyr but in December 1953 moved to the other side of the Soviet Union at Zasimovichi airfield, near Pruzhany, Belarus, along with the division, which became a fighter unit. At this time the 911th began to convert to the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, its first jet fighter. From 1957 to early 1959 it was commanded by Korean War flying ace Vladimir Zabelin. [3] In 1960, the regiment became a fighter-bomber aviation regiment, was relocated to Lida, and was transferred to the 1st Guards Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division. [4] In 1961 the unit converted to the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17. During 1975 and 1976 the unit replaced its MiG-17s with Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21S aircraft from the 684th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. Between 1981 and 1982 the regiment replaced the MiG-21s with Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23BN s from the 236th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment and simultaneously received Mikoyan MiG-27 s and MiG-27Ks. [5]

Lavochkin La-11 fighter aircraft

The Lavochkin La-11 was an early post-World War II Soviet long-range piston-engined fighter aircraft.

Uelkal Selo in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia

Uelkal is a village (selo) in Iultinsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Population: 243 (2010 Census); a slight reduction on a 2003 estimate of 258, of whom 208 were indigenous people, which itself showed a slight increase, up from 202 the previous year. The village is located approximately 100 kilometers (60 mi) away from the administrative centre of Egvekinot, at the western side of the mouth of Kresta Bay. Municipally, Uelkal is subordinated to Iultinsky Administrative District and incorporated as Uelkal Rural Settlement.

Tupolev Tu-4 Strategic bomber aircraft reverse engineered from Boeing B-29

The Tupolev Tu-4 is a piston-engined Soviet strategic bomber that served the Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to mid-1960s. It was reverse-engineered from the American Boeing B-29 Superfortress.

A MiG-17 of the type flown by the 911th for 15 years Soviet MiG-17 in flight with extended landing gear.jpg
A MiG-17 of the type flown by the 911th for 15 years

In June 1989, the 911th Regiment was transferred to Brand airfield in East Germany (now the Tropical Islands Resort theme park), and became part of the 105th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division. In November 1990, according to data exchanged by the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, the regiment included 32 MiG-27s and 10 MiG-23UMs. As Soviet troops withdrew from Germany, the regiment was briefly transferred to Finsterwalde on 22 June 1992, but returned to Lida on 6 July. At Lida, it became part of the 26th Air Army of the Belarusian Air Force and on 12 August was finally transferred to Baranovichi. The 911th Fighter-Bomber Regiment was disbanded in 1993, [5] and its aircraft scrapped. [4]

Brand-Briesen Airfield former military aerodrome in Germany

Brand-Briesen Airfield is a redeveloped military air base located at Briesen/Brand, part of Halbe in Dahme-Spreewald, Brandenburg, Germany, about 60 km (37 mi) south-southeast of Berlin. Since 2004, the former CargoLifter airship hangar has been converted by a Malaysian company Tanjong into a leisure resort called Tropical Islands Resort.

Tropical Islands Resort Worlds largest indoor waterpark

Tropical Islands Resort is a tropical theme park located in the former Brand-Briesen Airfield in Halbe, municipality in the district of Dahme-Spreewald in Brandenburg, Germany, 50 kilometres from the southern boundary of Berlin. It is housed in a former airship hangar, the biggest free-standing hall in the world. The hall belonged to the company Cargolifter until its insolvency in 2002.

Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe treaty

The original Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) was negotiated and concluded during the last years of the Cold War and established comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment in Europe and mandated the destruction of excess weaponry. The treaty proposed equal limits for the two "groups of states-parties", the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact. In 2007, Russia "suspended" its participation in the treaty, and on 10 March 2015, citing NATO's de facto breach of the Treaty, Russia formally announced it was "completely" halting its participation in it as of the next day.

Aircraft operated

Aircraft operated by 911th IAP (911th IBAP from 1960, APIB from 1976), data from [5]
FromToAircraftVersion
July 1942March 1943 Polikarpov I-16
March 1943April 1944 [2] Polikarpov I-153
April 19441945 Lavochkin La-5
May 19451948 Lavochkin La-7
19481954 Lavochkin La-11
late 19531961 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15
19611976 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17
19751982 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 MiG-21S
19811993 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 MiG-23BN, MiG-23UM
19811993 Mikoyan MiG-27 MiG-27K

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References

Citations

  1. ↑ "Ерёмин Алексей Устинович". soviet-aces-1936-53.ru. Retrieved 2017-04-08.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Bykov 2014, pp. 886–887.
  3. ↑ "Забелин Владимир Николаевич". soviet-aces-1936-53.ru. Retrieved 2017-04-08.
  4. 1 2 "911й авиаполк истребителей-бомбардировщиков". scucin-avia.narod.ru. Retrieved 2017-04-08.
  5. 1 2 3 Holm, Michael. "911th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment". ww2.dk. Retrieved 8 April 2017.

Bibliography

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