28th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment
28th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment | |
---|---|
Active | 1942-c.2009 |
Country | Soviet Air Force, Russian Air Force |
Engagements | World War II
Leningrad |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Alexey Smirnov |
28th Guards Leningrad Order of Kutuzov Fighter Aviation Regiment (28th GIAP) (
The regiment was formed in 1940 as the 153rd Fighter Aviation Regiment (iAP) (153-и ИАП). In November 1942, by order of the
Initially, the regiment was equipped with
The regiment lost 64 pilots and 94 aircraft in World War II. The regiment fought in the Korean War from June 22, 1950, to October 29, 1951. During its deployment, it lost three aircraft.
It served with 2nd Air Defence Corps, Moscow Air Defence District, Soviet Air Defence Forces[1] until 1994.
The 33rd Fighter Aviation Regiment (33 IAP) returned to
In April 1994, the 33rd and 733rd Fighter Aviation Regiments from the
There were earlier reports about the exact evolution of the regiment's status. Michael Holm said that the regiment absorbed the 773rd Fighter Aviation Regiment when it returned in 1994. Piotr Butowski, writing in International Air Power Review, Vol. 13, Summer 2004, says that the regiment was disbanded. Butowski goes on to say that the number and traditions of the 28 Gv IAP were taken up by the 33 IAP.
World War II
The 153rd Fighter Aviation Regiment was formed between 23 and 26 January 1940 at
When the Northern Front was split on 23 August, the 153rd IAP and the 5th SAD became part of the VVS
The 153rd iAP returned to combat on 28 June with the 244th Bomber Aviation Division of the
Returning to the Northwestern Front on 30 October 1942, the regiment joined the 239th IAD of the 6th Air Army. For its "exemplary completion of combat missions" and "demonstrated courage and heroism," the 153rd IAP was converted into the elite 28th Guards iAP on 22 November. The 239th IAD became the 5th Guards IAD on 18 March 1943. The regiment was awarded the honorific Leningrad on 4 May for its "courage and heroism" in battle. During its time with the Northwestern Front, the regiment flew 1,662 combat sorties with the loss of nineteen aircraft and twelve pilots. On 28 September, it was placed under the operational control of the 3rd Air Army of the Kalinin Front. The regiment was reorganized under shtat 015/364 between 1 and 28 October. During this period, the Kalinin Front was renamed the 1st Baltic Front on 20 October, and the regiment flew 573 sorties with the loss of eight aircraft and a single pilot under the front.[5] With the 5th Guards IAD, the 28th Guards IAP was transferred to the 15th Air Army of the 2nd Baltic Front on 11 December, flying 49 sorties without loss under the 15th Air Army.[3][5]
Together with the division, the regiment was transferred to the 11th Fighter Aviation Corps of the RVGK on 13 January 1944. It would not see combat again until 3 June , when the division and corps joined the 3rd Air Army of the 1st Baltic Front. With the 1st Baltic Front. the 28th Guards IAP flew 4,413 combat sorties with the loss of nineteen aircraft and eleven pilots.[5] Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) Boris Melekhin became the final wartime regimental commander on 2 October; he would remain in the position until 1949.[4] The 28th Guards IAP was awarded the Order of Kutuzov, 3rd class, on 22 October in recognition of its "exemplary completion of command tasks" in the breakthrough of German defenses southeast of Riga. With the 3rd Air Army, the regiment was transferred to the Zemland Group of Forces on 25 February 1945. Just days before the war ended on 9 May, the regiment was transferred with its division and corps to the 15th Air Army of the Leningrad Front on 5 May after the Zemland Group of Forces was disbanded. Since its transfer to the Zemland Group of Forces and during the final months of war, the regiment flew 1,199 combat sorties with the loss of four aircraft and a single pilot.[5]
During the war, the regiment flew a total of 14,303 combat sorties, the majority of which were either on escort missions or providing air cover to ground troops.[5] The 153rd and 28th Guards IAPs were credited with the destruction of 511 German aircraft during the war, mostly in air battles between 1943 and 1945. The regiment lost 127 aircraft during the war: 28 I-153, seven I-16, ten MiG-3, 80 Airacobras, one UTI-4, and one U-2. 94 of these losses occurred during combat. For aircraft losses, 1941 was the deadliest year with a total of 45 aircraft lost compared to 30 in 1943 and 32 in 1944. A total of 64 pilots were lost, of which 24 were recorded as killed in combat and 20 missing in action.[6]
Cold War
Postwar, the regiment began re-equipping with the Yakovlev Yak-15 jet fighter in June 1947. The regiment received its first eight MiG-9 fighters on 24 October of that year, and began retraining for the MiG-9 on 12 February 1948. The 28th Guards IAP received 42 MiG-9 fighters between July and August of that year. With the 5th Guards IAD, it relocated from Kaliningrad Oblast to the Migalovo airfield in the Moscow Air Defence District between 9 and 19 September of that year. The regiment began receiving the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 in November 1949, handing its MiG-9s over to the 328th IAD PVO. With the 151st Guards IAD, renumbered from the 5th Guards IAD in 1949, the regiment was sent to China with its division on 22 June 1950. After arriving in Manchuria, the regiment participated in the Korean War between 1 November 1950 and 2 April 1951 as part of the 64th Fighter Aviation Corps, the Soviet aerial intervention in the Korean War. The regiment flew about 700 combat sorties during this period, in which roughly 30 air battles were conducted. The regiment was credited with shooting down 36 UN aircraft and eleven probables, while losing four aircraft and three pilots killed.[4]
The division was rotated out of the intervention in the Korean War in October 1951, with the 28th Guards IAP transferring to Klin in the Moscow Air Defence District under the 88th IAK PVO. Together with the division. the regiment was transferred to the 56th IAK PVO in 1952. In September 1956, the regiment was transferred to the 17th IAD PVO. When the division disbanded in August 1960, the regiment became part of the 2nd Air Defence Corps of the Moscow Air Defence District.[7] According to 19 November 1990 data released under the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, the regiment included 38 MiG-23s.[8]
Russian service
In April 1994, the 33rd and 733rd Fighter Aviation Regiments from the
Commanders
- Major Sergei Mironov (August 1941-October 1942)
- Lieutenant Colonel O. M. Rodionov (October 1942)
- Major Alexey Smirnov
Heroes of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation
- Alexei S. Smirnov (twice: 28 September 1943 and 23 February 1945)
- Captain Aleksandr Avdeyev (10 February 1943, posthumous)
- Major Makarenko Nikolay F. (10 February 1943)
- Guard Captain Anatoly Kislyakov (18 August 1945)
- Guard Captain Mazurin Fedor Kravchuk (18 August 1945)
- Guard Lieutenant Pasko Nikolai Fedorovich (18 August 1945)
Notes
- ^ a b Michael Holm, 28th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, accessed December 2012.
- ^ Butuwski, IAPR, 2004, 88.
- ^ a b c d Bykov & Anokhin 2014, pp. 70–71.
- ^ a b c d e Bykov & Anokhin 2014, p. 74.
- ^ a b c d e f g Bykov & Anokhin 2014, p. 72.
- ^ Bykov & Anokhin 2014, p. 73.
- ^ a b Bykov & Anokhin 2014, p. 75.
- ^ Lensky & Tsybin 2004, p. 35.
- ^ Lensky & Tsybin 2004, p. 82.
- ^ Artemyev 2007.
References
- Artemyev, Anatoly (August 2007). "28-й гвардейский истребительный авиационный Ленинградский ордена Кутузова III степени полк". Aviatsiya i kosmonavtika (in Russian). No. 8. ISSN 1682-7759.
- Bykov, Mikhail; Anokhin, Vladimir (2014). Все истребительные авиаполки Сталина. Первая полная энциклопедия [All Fighter Aviation Regiments of Stalin. The First Complete Encyclopedia] (in Russian). Moscow: Yauza. ISBN 9785457567276.
- Lensky, A.G.; Tsybin, M.M. (2004). Военная авиация отечества - Организация, вооружение, дислокация (1991/2000 г.г.) [Military Aviation of the Fatherland: Organization, Armament, and Basing 1991/2000] (in Russian). St. Petersburg: Edelveys. OCLC 54860360.