Air Force of the USSR (Soviet Air Force): the history of Soviet military aviation

The history of Soviet military aviation began in 1918. The USSR Air Force was formed simultaneously with a new land army. In the years 1918-1924. They were called the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Fleet, in 1924-1946. - The Air Force of the Red Army. And it was only after the Great Patriotic War that the customary name of the USSR Air Force appeared, which remained until the collapse of the Soviet state.

Origins

The first concern of the Bolsheviks after their coming to power was the armed struggle against the "whites". Civil war and unprecedented bloodshed could not do without the forced construction of a strong army, fleet and aviation. At that time the planes were still curiosities, their mass exploitation began a little later. The Russian empire left a single division in the Soviet power that consisted of models called "Ilya Muromets". These C-22s became the basis of the future Air Force of the USSR.

In 1918 there were 38 squadrons in the air force fleet, and in 1920 - already 83. About 350 aircrafts were involved in the Civil War fronts. Leadership then the RSFSR did everything to preserve and exaggerate the royal aeronautical heritage. The first Soviet commander-in-chief of aviation was Konstantin Akashev, who held this post in 1919-1921.

Symbolism

In 1924, the future flag of the USSR Air Force was adopted (at first it was considered an airfield flag of all aviation formations and detachments). The sun became the background of the panel. In the middle was a red star, inside it - a sickle and a hammer. Then there were other recognizable symbols: silver hovering wings and propeller blades.

As the flag of the USSR Air Force, the cloth was approved in 1967. The image became extremely popular. It was not forgotten even after the collapse of the USSR. In this regard, already in 2004 a similar flag was received by the Russian Air Force. The differences are insignificant: the red star, sickle and hammer disappeared, an anti-aircraft gun appeared.

Development in the 1920-1930-ies.

Warlords of the Civil War period had to organize the future armed forces of the USSR in the conditions of chaos and confusion. Only after the defeat of the "white" movement and the creation of a complete statehood did it become possible to begin a normal reorganization of aviation. In 1924, the Workers' and Peasants Red Air Fleet was renamed the Air Force of the Red Army. There was a new Air Force Directorate.

The bomber aviation was reorganized into a separate unit, within which the most advanced heavy-bomber and light-bomber squadrons were being formed at the time. In the 1930s, the number of fighters increased significantly, while the proportion of scouts, on the contrary, decreased. The first multipurpose aircraft appeared (such as the P-6, designed by Andrei Tupolev). These machines could equally effectively perform the functions of bombers, torpedo bombers and long-range fighters.

In 1932, the armed forces of the USSR were replenished with a new type of airborne troops. The Airborne Forces had its own transport and reconnaissance equipment. Three years later, contrary to the tradition established during the Civil War, new military ranks were introduced. Now the pilots in the Air Force automatically became officers. The walls of native schools and flight schools each left in the rank of junior lieutenant.

By 1933 new models of the "I" series (from I-2 to I-5) had been introduced into the USSR Air Force. These were fighter-biplanes, designed by Dmitry Grigorovich. During the first fifteen years of existence, the Soviet fleet of military aviation was replenished 2.5 times. The share of imported cars decreased to several percent.

Feast of the Air Force

In the same year of 1933 (according to the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars), the day of the USSR Air Force was established. As a festive date, the Council of People's Commissars was elected on August 18. Officially, the day was timed to the end of the annual summer combat training. By tradition, the holiday began to be combined with different competitions and contests in aerobatics, tactical and fire training, and so on.

Day of the Air Force of the USSR was used to popularize civil and military aviation among the Soviet proletarian masses. Representatives of industry, Osoaviakhim and the Civil Air Fleet participated in the celebrations on the occasion of the significant date. The center of the annual holiday was the Central Aerodrome named after Mikhail Frunze in Moscow.

Already the first events attracted the attention of not only professionals and residents of the capital, but also numerous guests of the city, as well as official representatives of foreign countries. The holiday could not do without the participation of Joseph Stalin, members of the Central Committee of the CPSU (B) and the government.

The change again

In 1939, the USSR Air Force experienced another reformatting. Their former brigade organization was replaced by a more modern divisional and regimental organization. In carrying out the reform, the Soviet military leadership wanted to increase the effectiveness of aviation. After the changes in the Air Force there was a new main tactical unit - the regiment (it consisted of 5 squadrons, which in total amounted to 40 to 60 aircraft).

On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, the share of assault and bomber aviation was 51% of the total fleet. Also, the composition of the USSR Air Force included fighter and reconnaissance units. On the territory of the country, 18 schools functioned, in the walls of which new personnel for Soviet military aviation were trained. Teaching methods were gradually modernized. Although at first the consistency of the Soviet cadres (pilots, navigators, technicians, etc.) lagged behind the corresponding indicator in the capitalist countries, this gap became less and less significant year after year.

Spanish Experience

For the first time after a long break, the USSR Air Force aircraft were tested in combat during the Spanish Civil War, which began in 1936. The Soviet Union was supported by a friendly "left" government that fought nationalists. Not only military equipment went to Spain from Spain, but also volunteer pilots. The best I-16 showed themselves, which managed to prove themselves much more effectively than the Luftwaffe aircraft did.

The experience gained by Soviet pilots in Spain proved invaluable. Many lessons were learned not only by arrows, but also by aerial reconnaissance. Experts who returned from Spain quickly advanced in service, by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, many of them became colonels and generals. Over time, the overseas campaign coincided with the unleashing of large Stalinist purges in the army. The repressions also affected aviation. The NKVD got rid of many people who fought with the "whites".

The Great Patriotic War

Conflicts of the 1930s showed that the USSR Air Force is in no way inferior to the European one. However, the world war was approaching, and an unprecedented arms race unfolded in the Old World. Well-proven in Spain, I-153 and I-15 by the time Germany attacked the USSR have already become obsolete. The beginning of the Great Patriotic War in general turned into a catastrophe for Soviet aviation. The enemy's forces invaded the country unexpectedly, due to this suddenness they gained a serious advantage. Soviet airfields near the western borders were devastated by bombing. In the first hours of the war, a huge number of new aircraft were destroyed, and not yet had time to leave their hangars (according to various estimates, there were about 2 thousand such).

The evacuated Soviet industry had to solve several problems at once. First, the USSR Air Force needed a rapid replacement of losses, without which it was impossible to imagine an equal fight. Secondly, throughout the war the designers continued to make detailed changes to the new machines, thus responding to the enemy's technical challenges.

Most of all in those terrible four years, I-2 attack planes and Yak-1 fighter planes were launched. These two models together accounted for about half of the domestic aviation fleet. The success of "Yak" was due to the fact that this aircraft was a convenient platform for numerous modifications and improvements. The original model, which appeared in 1940, was repeatedly altered. Soviet designers did everything to ensure that the "Yaks" did not lag behind in their development from the German "Messerschmitts" (so appeared Yak-3 and Yak-9).

By the middle of the war, parity was established in the air, and a little later Soviet aircraft began to outperform enemy vehicles altogether. Other famous bombers were also created, including the Tu-2 and Pe-2. The red star (the USSR / Air Force sign pictured on the fuselage) became for the German pilots a symbol of danger and approaching heavy fighting.

Fighting against the Luftwaffe

During the Great Patriotic War, not only the park was transformed, but also the organizational structure of the Air Force. In the spring of 1942, long-range aviation appeared. This connection, which was subordinate to the Supreme Command, played an important role during the remaining war years. Along with it, air armies began to form. These data included the entire frontal aviation.

A considerable amount of resources was invested in the development of the repair infrastructure. New workshops had to quickly repair and return to battle damaged aircraft. The Soviet field repair network has become one of the most effective among all such systems that emerged during the Second World War.

The key air battles for the USSR were aviation clashes during the battle for Moscow, Stalingrad and the Kursk Bulge. Demonstrative figures: in 1941, about 400 aircraft participated in the battles, in 1943 this figure grew to several thousand, by the end of the war, about 7,500 cars were concentrated in the Berlin sky. The fleet grew at an ever-increasing pace. In total, during the war, the USSR industry produced about 17,000 aircraft, and 44,000 pilots were trained in flight schools (27,000 were killed). Legends of the Great Patriotic Steel Ivan Kozhedub (won 62 wins) and Alexander Pokryshkin (on his account, 59 wins).

New Challenges

In 1946, shortly after the end of the war with the Third Reich, the Red Army Air Force was renamed the Air Force of the USSR. Structural and organizational changes affected not only aviation, but also the entire defense sphere. Although World War II ended, the world continued to be in a tense state. A new confrontation has begun - this time between the Soviet Union and the United States.

In 1953 the Ministry of Defense of the USSR was established. The country's military-industrial complex continued to expand. New types of military equipment appeared, and aviation was also changing. Between the USSR and the United States, the arms race began. All further development of the Air Force was subject to the only logic - to catch up and overtake America. Design offices of Sukhoi (Su), Mikoyan and Gurevich (MiG) entered their most productive period of activity.

The emergence of jet aircraft

The first epoch-making post-war novelty was the jet aircraft tested in 1946. It replaced the old obsolete piston technology. The first Soviet jet aircraft were MiG-9 and Yak-15. They managed to overcome the high-speed mark of 900 kilometers per hour, that is, their indicators were one and a half times higher than those of the previous generation.

For several years, the experience accumulated by Soviet aviation during the Great Patriotic War was generalized. Key problems and pain points of domestic aircraft were identified. The process of modernization of equipment for improving its comfort, ergonomics and safety began. Any trifle (flight jacket of the pilot, the most insignificant instrument on the control panel) gradually took on modern forms. To improve the accuracy of firing on airplanes, advanced radar systems began to be installed.

Airspace security has become the responsibility of the new air defense forces. The appearance of air defense led to the division of the territory of the USSR into several sectors, depending on the proximity to the state border. By the same scheme, aviation continued to be classified (long-range and front-line aviation). In the same 1946 airborne troops, formerly part of the Air Force, were separated into independent education.

Faster than sound

At the turn of the 1940s-1950s, advanced Soviet jet aircraft began to develop the most inaccessible regions of the country: the Far North and Chukotka. Long-distance flights were made because of one more consideration. The military leadership of the USSR prepared the military-industrial complex for a possible conflict with the United States, located on the other side of the world. To this end, the Tu-95, a long-range strategic bomber, was designed. Another turning point in the development of the Soviet Air Force was the receipt of nuclear weapons for their armament. The introduction of new technologies today is best judged by the expositions of aviation museums, including those in the "aircraft capital of Russia" Zhukovsky. Even such things as the suit of the USSR Air Force and other equipment of Soviet pilots, clearly demonstrate the evolution of this defense industry.

Another milestone in the history of Soviet military aviation was left behind when in 1950 the MiG-17 was able to exceed the speed of sound. Record put the famous test pilot Ivan Ivashchenko. Soon the obsolete assault aviation was disbanded. Meanwhile, in the armament of the Air Force, new air-to-surface and air-to-air missiles appeared.

In the late 1960s, third-generation models were designed (for example, MiG-25 fighters). These machines could already fly at a speed three times the speed of sound. In serial production, "mig" modifications were launched in the form of high-altitude scouts and interceptors. These aircraft significantly improved take-off and landing characteristics. In addition, the novelties differed in their multi-mode operation.

In 1974, the first Soviet vertical takeoff and landing aircraft were designed (Yak-38). The equipment and equipment of the pilots changed. The flying jacket became more comfortable and helped to feel comfortable even in conditions of extreme overloads at ultra-high speeds.

The fourth generation

The newest Soviet aircraft were stationed on the territory of the countries of the Warsaw Treaty Organization. Aviation for a long time did not take part in any conflicts, but demonstrated its capabilities in large-scale exercises such as the Dnieper, Berezina, Dvina, and so on.

In the 1980s Soviet aircraft of the fourth generation appeared. These models (Su-27, MiG-29, MiG-31, Tu-160) differed by an improved maneuverability. Some of them are still in service with the Russian Air Force.

The latest technology at that time revealed its potential in the Afghan war, which was blown up in 1979-1989. Soviet bombers had to operate in conditions of strict secrecy and permanent anti-aircraft fire from the ground. For the Afghan campaign, about a million sorties were fired (with about 300 helicopters and 100 planes lost). In 1986, the development of military aviation projects of the fifth generation began. The most important contribution to these undertakings was made by Sukhoi Design Bureau. However, due to the deterioration of the economic and political situation, the work was suspended, and the projects were frozen.

Last chord

Perestroika was marked by several important processes. First, the relations between the USSR and the USA have finally improved. The Cold War was over, and now the Kremlin did not have a strategic enemy, in the race with which it was necessary to constantly build up its own military-industrial complex. Secondly, the leaders of the two superpowers signed several epoch-making documents, according to which, joint disarmament started.

In the late 1980s, the withdrawal of Soviet troops began not only from Afghanistan, but also from countries already in the socialist camp. The departure of the Soviet Army from the GDR, where its powerful advanced group was located, was exceptional in scale. Hundreds of planes went to their homeland. Most remained in the RSFSR, some were transported to Belarus or Ukraine.

In 1991, it became clear that the USSR could no longer exist in its former monolithic form. The division of the country into a dozen independent states led to the division before the common army. This fate has not passed and aviation. Russia received about 2/3 of its personnel and 40% of the equipment of the Soviet Air Force. The remaining legacy went to 11 other union republics (the Baltic states did not take part in the section).