Following is the organization of the Soviet Air Forces (Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily) on May 1, 1945. The primary source for this list is the Boevoi sostav Sovetskoi armii (Combat Composition of the Soviet Army) list for 1 May 1945.
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.
Boevoi sostav Sovetskoi armii is an official Second World War Soviet Army order of battle published in five parts from 1963 through 1990 by the Voroshilov Academy of the General Staff and Voenizdat.
The Normandie-Niemen Fighter Regiment (French: Régiment de Chasse Normandie-Niémen - is a Fighter unit of the French Air Force, which has adopted different formations and designations since 1942. Originally formed as Groupe de Chasse Normandie 3 in 1942, then redesignated as a Regiment in 1944, then given four different squadron numbers, and later two Regiments designations respectively.
The 5th Guards Tank Army was a Soviet Guards armored formation which fought in many notable actions during World War II. The army was formed in February 1943. Until the aftermath of the Vilnius Offensive in July 1944, it was commanded by Pavel Rotmistrov.
The 240th Fighter Aviation Division was a fighter aircraft formation of the Soviet Air Forces during World War II. It saw its most eventful actions during that war, and in 1949 became the 119th Fighter Aviation Division.
The 3rd Guards Tank Army was a tank army established by the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II. The 3rd Tank Army was created in 1942 and fought in the southern areas of the Soviet Union and Poland, then in Germany and Czechoslovakia until the defeat of Germany in 1945. Postwar, the army served as occupation troops in East Germany, went through several name changes, and was finally deactivated in 1969.
A note regarding the use "Patrol Area of". The actual term used in the Russian OOB is ob'yekty, which literally means 'objects'. However, in the military sense it can mean structures, and targets. One possible interpretation that can be offered to better define the use in English is that the meaning here is of the actual "area of responsibility" of the unit in terms of installations, facilities, logistic networks and other possible locations that an enemy may select to attack. In this sense the meaning is more an area-related definition then a specific location, describing the operational activity of the air unit within the realm of its responsibilities.
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 Southwestern Front was a name given to a Front by the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War, by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic during the Russian Civil War, and by the Red Army during the Second World War.
The Republika Srpska Air Force was the air force of Republika Srpska and was used primarily during the Bosnian war. In 2005, it was integrated into the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. SFOR still plays a large role in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which consists of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska. Under the leadership of one president, the ministry of defense of both entities merged into one single ministry of defense with one chief of joint staff commanding both Air Forces. In 2004 there was again a restructuring of the armed forces, bringing the number of Air Force personnel down to 4,000. Next to the command, the 1st Regiment V i PVO consists out of a platoon, a radar battalion, artillery rocket ADF battalion, AF logistics battalion and aviation assets, a Fighter Bomber Squadron and Mixed Helicopter Squadron. In 2006 the Air Force of Republika Srpska was disbanded.
The Special Purpose Command was a formation of the Russian Air Force, the strongest among the tactical aviation and anti-aircraft groupings. Its zone of responsibility amounted to 1.3 million km², taking in 40 million people, as well as the country's capital, Moscow. On July 1, 2009 it was superseded by the Aerospace Defense Operational Strategic Command.
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 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.
The 6th Red Banner Leningrad Army of Air and Air Defence Forces is an Air Army of the Russian Air Force.
The 14th Air and Air Defence Forces Army is an air army of the Russian Air Force, part of the Central Military District and headquartered at Yekaterinburg.
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 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 17th Air Army was an Air army of the Red Air Force and Soviet Air Forces from 1942.
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.
The 9th Air Command was a joint unit of Yugoslav Air Force.
The 64th Fighter Aviation Corps was an aviation corps of the Soviet Air Forces. The corps was the parent unit for Soviet interceptor units based in northeastern Manchuria during the Korean War.
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.
The Moscow Air Defense Front was an air defense front of the National Air Defense Forces, responsible for the air defense of Moscow during World War II. It was formed in April 1942 in response to predictions of a German bomber concentration against Moscow, and its units were used to cover troops and rear areas on the front after the halting of German air raids against that city. In June 1943 it was reorganized as the Special Moscow Air Defense Army.
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.