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Soviet Air Forces
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Soviet Air Forces
The Soviet Air Forces (Russian: Военно-Воздушные Силы Союза Советских Социалистических Республик, romanized: Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily Soyuza Sovetskih Sotsialisticheskih Respublik, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") was one of two air forces belonging to 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. The "March of the Pilots" was its marching song.
The first military aviation branch of Russia or any of the Soviet Union's constituent states was the short-lived Imperial Russian Air Service, founded in 1912 and disbanded in 1917 with the onset of the Bolshevik Revolution and the Russian Civil War. Some former IRAS personnel joined the White Russian side, but unlike the Reds, the Whites never created an official air force.
The first Red move toward creating a military aviation branch was the All-Russia Collegium for Direction of the Air Forces of the Old Army (translation is uncertain), formed on 20 December 1917. This was a Bolshevik aerial headquarters initially led by Konstantin Akashev. Along with a general postwar military reorganisation, the collegium was reconstituted as the "Workers' and Peasants' Red Air Fleet" (Glavvozduhflot), established on 24 May 1918 and given the top-level departmental status of "Main Directorate".
Approximately 1300 aircraft were inherited from the Imperial Russian Air Service, but as the majority of these planes originated from nations that backed the White Russian side, the actual number of aircraft that flew for the Red side was around 300. 216 Red aviators received the Order of the Red Banner for heroism, 16 of them receiving it twice. The Reds ultimately won the Russian Civil War, breaking the last serious White opposition and effectively ending the conflict by 25 October 1922. Their fledgling air force became known as the Directorate of the USSR Air Forces on 28 March 1924, and then the Directorate of the Workers-Peasants Red Army Air Forces on 1 January 1925.
After the creation of the Soviet state many efforts were made in order to modernize and expand aircraft production, led by its charismatic and energetic commander, General Yakov Alksnis, an eventual victim of Joseph Stalin's Great Purge. Domestic aircraft production increased significantly in the early 1930s and towards the end of the decade, the Soviet Air Force introduced Polikarpov I-15 and I-16 fighters and Tupolev SB and Ilyushin DB-3 bombers.
In March 1927, the organizational structure of the Red Army Air Force was as follows:
Units with honorifics were the 7th Dzerzhinsky, 9th Voroshilov, 16th Ultimatum, 20th Frunze, 24th Ilyich, 30th Red Moscow, and 40th Lenin Aviation Squadrons, and 6th Siberian Revolutionary Committee and 24th Far Eastern Ultimatum Separate Aviation Detachments.
One of the first major tests for the VVS came in 1936 with the Spanish Civil War, in which the latest Soviet and German aircraft designs were employed against each other in fierce air-to-air combat. At first, the Polikarpov I-16 proved superior to any Luftwaffe or Spanish Nationalist fighters, and managed to achieve local air superiority wherever they were employed. However, the Soviets refused to supply the plane in adequate numbers, and their aerial victories were soon squandered because of their limited use.
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Soviet Air Forces
The Soviet Air Forces (Russian: Военно-Воздушные Силы Союза Советских Социалистических Республик, romanized: Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily Soyuza Sovetskih Sotsialisticheskih Respublik, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") was one of two air forces belonging to 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. The "March of the Pilots" was its marching song.
The first military aviation branch of Russia or any of the Soviet Union's constituent states was the short-lived Imperial Russian Air Service, founded in 1912 and disbanded in 1917 with the onset of the Bolshevik Revolution and the Russian Civil War. Some former IRAS personnel joined the White Russian side, but unlike the Reds, the Whites never created an official air force.
The first Red move toward creating a military aviation branch was the All-Russia Collegium for Direction of the Air Forces of the Old Army (translation is uncertain), formed on 20 December 1917. This was a Bolshevik aerial headquarters initially led by Konstantin Akashev. Along with a general postwar military reorganisation, the collegium was reconstituted as the "Workers' and Peasants' Red Air Fleet" (Glavvozduhflot), established on 24 May 1918 and given the top-level departmental status of "Main Directorate".
Approximately 1300 aircraft were inherited from the Imperial Russian Air Service, but as the majority of these planes originated from nations that backed the White Russian side, the actual number of aircraft that flew for the Red side was around 300. 216 Red aviators received the Order of the Red Banner for heroism, 16 of them receiving it twice. The Reds ultimately won the Russian Civil War, breaking the last serious White opposition and effectively ending the conflict by 25 October 1922. Their fledgling air force became known as the Directorate of the USSR Air Forces on 28 March 1924, and then the Directorate of the Workers-Peasants Red Army Air Forces on 1 January 1925.
After the creation of the Soviet state many efforts were made in order to modernize and expand aircraft production, led by its charismatic and energetic commander, General Yakov Alksnis, an eventual victim of Joseph Stalin's Great Purge. Domestic aircraft production increased significantly in the early 1930s and towards the end of the decade, the Soviet Air Force introduced Polikarpov I-15 and I-16 fighters and Tupolev SB and Ilyushin DB-3 bombers.
In March 1927, the organizational structure of the Red Army Air Force was as follows:
Units with honorifics were the 7th Dzerzhinsky, 9th Voroshilov, 16th Ultimatum, 20th Frunze, 24th Ilyich, 30th Red Moscow, and 40th Lenin Aviation Squadrons, and 6th Siberian Revolutionary Committee and 24th Far Eastern Ultimatum Separate Aviation Detachments.
One of the first major tests for the VVS came in 1936 with the Spanish Civil War, in which the latest Soviet and German aircraft designs were employed against each other in fierce air-to-air combat. At first, the Polikarpov I-16 proved superior to any Luftwaffe or Spanish Nationalist fighters, and managed to achieve local air superiority wherever they were employed. However, the Soviets refused to supply the plane in adequate numbers, and their aerial victories were soon squandered because of their limited use.
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