The Society for the Assistance of Defense, Aircraft and Chemical Construction (Russian: Общество содействия обороне, авиационному и химическому строительству, abbreviated as Osoaviakhim) was the largest mass voluntary society in the Soviet Union before World War II. It was established in 1927 with the goal of propagating civil defense training among the civilian population and of garnering popular support for Soviet armed forces. Starting with three voluntary societies—for support to aviation, chemistry, and civil defense—it quickly branched out in several other directions, including mailer pigeon and military-service dog sections. The Osoviakhim was dissolved in 1948, but three successor organizations were united again in 1952 to form a similar voluntary society named DOSAAF.

In 1920, during the Civil War, the Military Scientific Society was created as a voluntary defense organization in the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. This would later be renamed the Society for the Assistance of the Defense of the Soviet Union (OSO). A few years later, in the summer of 1925, the Aviakhim society was formed through the merger of the Society of Friends of the Air Fleet and the Society of Friends of Chemical Defense and the Chemical Industry (Dobrokhim).

On January 23, 1927, at the joint meeting of the First All-Union Congress of Aviakhim and the Second Plenary Session of the Central Council of the Society for the Assistance of the Defense on the report of the People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs Kliment Voroshilov, it was decided to merge the two societies into one under the name Aviakhim-OSO. Over time, it was renamed to the "Society for Assistance to the Defense and Aviation-Chemical Construction of the Soviet Union", abbreviated Osoaviakhim of the Soviet Union.

On February 10, 1927, Osoaviakhim's first conference in Moscow took place.

In 1931, the All-Union Physical Culture Complex program "Ready for Labour and Defense of the Soviet Union" was introduced in the country.

In 1932, at Moscow Aviation Plant No. 22, the country's first public aviation school was created by the Osoaviakhim and Komsomol organizations, which trained pilots and other aviation specialists for the job. It had six sections: flight, glider, aircraft engine, parachute, glisser, model aircraft, and a group for the design and construction of sports aircraft.

On October 29, 1932, the Presidium of the Central Council of Osoaviakhim of the Soviet Union and the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic approved the provision on the creation of the title Voroshilov Shooter, and on December 29, 1932, the badge Voroshilov Shooter. The magazine "Voroshilov Shooter" started publication.

In 1933, the first parachute squad was created at Krasnaya Presnya in the Bolshevik confectionery factory, which laid the foundation for mass parachuting in the country. At the factory Red Manufactory, the country's first female parachute sanitary squad was organized, which included 20 employees of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union, and the Central Council of Osoaviakhim. The squad and factory received the collective title and sign "Fortress of Defense". It was awarded to teams of factories and factories, which, with the successful implementation of production plans, achieved widespread youth engagement in military affairs and the development of physical education.