54th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment

The 54th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (Russian: 54-й гвардейский истребительный авиационный полк (54 GIAP); Military Unit Number 06931)[1] was an aviation regiment of the Soviet Air Forces during World War II and the Cold War, which became part of the Soviet Air Defense Forces and the Russian Aerospace Forces.

237th Fighter Aviation Regiment
(1941–1943)

54th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment
(1943–1960)

54th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO
(1960–1992)

54th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment
(1992–2002)

3958th Air Base
(2002–2005)

3958th Guards Air Base
(2005–2011)

Aviation Squadron of the State Center for Training of Aviation Personnel and Combat Testing
(2011–present)
Active1941–present
Country
Branch
TypeFighter Aviation regiment (air base from 2002, squadron from 2011)
Garrison/HQSavasleyka (air base) (1992–present)
EngagementsWorld War II
DecorationsOrder of the Red Banner Order of the Red Banner
Battle honoursKerch

World War II

The 237th Fighter Aviation Regiment began forming in May 1941. It began the war at Varėna outside Pskov in the Baltic Special Military District as part of the 57th Mixed Aviation Division.[2] From August 1942 the regiment served in combat with the 220th Fighter Aviation Division. On 3 February 1943 the regiment became the 54th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment and the division became the 1st Guards Fighter Aviation Division, mostly fighting as part of the 16th Air Army.[3]

Cold War

After the end of the war, the regiment received the Bell P-63 Kingcobra. It was based at Vaiņode in the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic. The 54th Guards received the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 in 1950 and the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 in 1956. It became part of the Soviet Air Defense Forces' 27th Air Defense Corps after the 1st Guards Division headquarters disbanded in 1960. In 1967, the 54th Guards became one of the first regiments equipped with the Sukhoi Su-15 interceptor, and received the Su-15TM in the late 1970s. In 1987, the 54th Guards received the Sukhoi Su-27. By November 1990, according to CFE Treaty data, the regiment fielded 38 Su-27s.[3]

Russian service

In November 1992, under the command of Colonel Ye. A. Tikhomirov, the regiment was relocated to Savasleyka. On 1 September 2002, it was reorganized as the 3958th Air Base, part of the 4th Center for Combat Employment and Retraining of Personnel. On 26 March 2005, the honors of the 54th Guards were transferred to the 3958th, which became the 3958th Guards Air Base. In early 2011, the base became the Aviation Squadron of the State Center for Training of Aviation Personnel and Combat Testing after the 4th Center was redesignated.[4]

Aircraft operated
Aircraft operated by 237 IAP and 54 GIAP, data from [5]
From To Aircraft Version
May 1941 July 1941 Polikarpov I-153
July 1941 1943 Yakovlev Yak-1
July 1943 Bell P-39 Airacobra
1950 Bell P-63 Kingcobra
July 1949 1950 Lavochkin La-9
November 1950 1953 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15
1953 1967 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17
1955 1967 Yakovlev Yak-25 Yak-25M
1967 1987 Sukhoi Su-15 Su-15TM
1987 2002 Sukhoi Su-27
1994 2002 Mikoyan MiG-31

Assignments

Stations
  • Guryevsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, May 1945 - August 1945 [54 47 15N, 20 37 10E][6]
  • Vainode, Latvian SSR, 8.45 - 1992 [56 24 27N, 21 53 19E]
  • Savostleyka, Gorkiy Oblast, 1992 - present [55 26 32N, 42 18 35E]

References

Citations
  1. Bykov & Anokhin 2014, p. 109.
  2. "Air Command, Baltic Special Military District".
  3. Lenskii & Tsybin 2013, p. 97.
  4. "Авиационная эскадрилья Государственного центра подготовки авиационного персонала и войсковых испытаний Министерства обороны РФ им. В.П. Чкалова" [Aviation Squadron of the State Center for Training of Aviation Personnel and Combat Testing Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation named for V.P. Chkalov]. Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (in Russian). 19 April 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  5. Bykov & Anokhin 2014, pp. 109–111.
  6. Holm, Michael (2015). "54th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment". Soviet Armed Forces 1945-1991 Organisation and order of battle. Retrieved 2017-12-10.

Bibliography
  • 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.
  • Bykov, Mikhail (2014). Все асы Сталина 1936–1953 гг [All aces of Stalin 1936-1953] (in Russian). Moscow: Yauza. ISBN 9785457567221.
  • Lenskii, 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. OCLC 54860360.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Lenskii, A.G.; Tsybin, M.M. (2013). Советские Войска ПВО в последние годы Союза ССР. Часть 1 [Soviet Air Defense Forces in the last years of the USSR: Part 1] (in Russian). St. Petersburg: Info Ol. OCLC 861180616.
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