Soviet Air Forces


The Soviet Air Forces 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.

Origins

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 the Direction of the Air Forces of the Old Army, 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", 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.

1927 structure

In March 1927, the organizational structure of the Red Army Air Force was as follows:
  • Headquarters, VVS RKKA
  • * Headquarters Air Forces of the Moscow Military District
  • ** Headquarters 10th Brigade
  • *** 25th Aviation Park 1st rank, 26th Aviation 2nd rank, 27th Aviation Park 3rd rank, 28th Aviation Park 3rd rank
  • *** 7th, 30th, and 40th Aviation Squadrons
  • *** 20th, 10th, 45th, and 3rd Separate Aviation Detachments
  • * Headquarters Air Forces of the Leningrad Military District
  • ** Headquarters 1st Brigade
  • *** 1st Aviation Park 1st rank
  • *** 1st, 28th, 55th, and 57th Aviation Squadrons
  • *** 1st, 41st, and 85th Separate Aviation Detachments
  • ** Headquarters 3rd Brigade
  • *** 6th Aviation Park 1st rank
  • *** 11th, 33rd and 34th Aviation Squadrons
  • *** 21st Separate Aviation Detachment
  • * Headquarters VVS Belorussian Military District
  • ** Headquarters 2nd Brigade
  • *** 11th Aviation Park 1st rank
  • *** 22nd and 43rd Aviation Squadrons
  • *** 4th and 43rd Separate Aviation Detachments
  • ** Headquarters 6th Brigade
  • *** 13th Aviation Park 1st rank
  • *** 5th, 9th and 18th Aviation Squadrons
  • *** 84th Separate Aviation Detachments
  • ** Headquarters 8th Brigade
  • *** 15th and 17th Aviation Parks 1st rank
  • *** 16th and 52nd Aviation Squadrons
  • *** 5th, 11th, 23rd and 27th Separate Aviation Detachments
  • * Headquarters VVS Ukrainian Military District
  • ** 22nd Aviation Park 2nd rank
  • ** 24th Aviation Squadron
  • ** 30th Separate Aviation Detachment
  • ** Headquarters 5th Brigade
  • *** 20th Aviation Park 1st rank
  • *** 3rd, 20th, and 50th Aviation Squadrons
  • *** 14th, 17th, 37th, and 83rd Separate Aviation Detachments
  • ** Headquarters 7th Brigade
  • *** 21st Aviation Park 1st rank, 23rd Aviation Park 2nd rank
  • *** 31st and 36th Aviation Squadrons
  • *** 32nd and 8th Separate Aviation Detachments
  • * Headquarters Air Forces of the North Caucasus Military District
  • ** 31st and 32nd Aviation Parks 3rd rank
  • ** 26th and 9th Separate Aviation Detachments
  • * Headquarters VVS Central Asian Military District
  • ** 37th and 38th Aviation Parks 3rd rank
  • ** 35th and 40th Separate Aviation Detachments
  • * Headquarters VVS Siberian Military District
  • ** 41st, 42nd, and 43rd Aviation Parks 3rd rank
  • ** 25th, 19th, and 6th Separate Aviation Detachments
  • * Headquarters VVS Red Banner Caucasus Army
  • ** 34th and 35th Aviation Parks 3rd rank
  • ** 44th and 70th Separate Aviation Detachments
  • * Headquarters VVS Volga Military District
  • ** 39th Aviation Park 3rd rank
  • ** 42nd Separate Aviation Detachment
  • * Headquarters VVS Baltic Sea Fleet
  • ** 62nd and 66th Separate Aviation Detachments
  • * Headquarters VVS Black Sea Fleet
  • ** 60th Aviation Squadron
  • ** 64th, 55th, 48th, 50th, and 53rd Separate Aviation Detachments
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.

[Spanish Civil War]

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.
The Nationalists, meanwhile, received steady and developing support from their fascist allies in Italy and Germany, who both directly supplied Nationalist flyers and sent their own aircraft and aircrews to fly under thinly veiled disguises, namely bearing Nationalist colours. The Soviet Union ultimately had no answer to the Messerschmitt Bf 109s delivered to Franco's Spanish Nationalist air forces. The 109 steadily won air superiority for the Nationalists, something they would never relinquish. Soviet efforts to back Republican aviators ended in failure in 1939 as the Nationalists won; Franco's far-right government would rule Spain for nearly 40 years.
On 19 November 1939, VVS headquarters was again titled the Main Directorate of the Red Army Air Forces under the WPRA HQ.

1930s aviation and propaganda

Positive heroism

The early 1930s saw a shift in ideological focus away from collectivist propaganda and towards "positive heroism."
Instead of glorifying socialist collectivism as a means of societal advancement, the Soviet Communist Party began uplifting individuals who committed heroic actions that advanced the cause of socialism. In the case of aviation, the government began glorifying people who utilized aviation technology as opposed to glorifying the technology itself. Pilots such as Valery Chkalov, Georgy Baydukov, Alexander Belyakov, and Mikhail Gromov—as well as many others—were raised to the status of heroes for their piloting skills and achievements.

Transpolar flights of 1937

In May 1937, Stalin charged pilots Chkalov, Baydukov, and Belyakov with the mission to navigate the first transpolar flight in history. On 20 June 1937, the aviators landed their ANT-25 in Vancouver, Washington. A month later, Stalin ordered the departure of a second crew to push the boundaries of modern aviation technology even further. In July 1937 Mikhail Gromov, along with his crew Sergei Danilin and Andrei Yumashev, completed the same journey over the North Pole and continuing on to Southern California, creating a new record for the longest nonstop flight.
The public reaction to the transpolar flights was euphoric. The media called the pilots "Bolshevik knights of culture and progress." Soviet citizens celebrated Aviation Day on 18 August with as much zeal as they celebrated the October Revolution anniversary. Literature including poems, short stories, and novels emerged celebrating the feats of the aviator-celebrities. Feature films like Victory, Tales of Heroic Aviators, and Valery Chkalov reinforced the "positive hero" imagery, celebrating the aviators' individuality within the context of a socialist government.

Folkloric themes in aviation propaganda

, newspaper articles, and other forms of media sought to connect Soviet citizens to relevant themes from daily life. For aviation, Stalin's propagandists drew on Russian folklore. Following the successes of the transpolar flights by Chkalov and Gromov in 1937, examples increased dramatically. Aviators were referred to symbolically as sokoly, orly, or bogatyr.
Newspapers told traditional Russian narratives of fliers conquering time and space, overcoming barriers and completing their missions in triumph. Even the story of each aviator suggests roots in old Russian storytelling and narratives—virtuous heroes striving to reach an end goal, encountering and conquering any obstacles in their path. By using folklore rhetoric, Stalin and Soviet propagandists connected aviation achievements to Russian heritage, making aviation seem more accessible to the Soviet population. Furthermore, the narratives emphasize the aviators' selflessness and devotion to a higher socialist ideal, pointing to Soviet leaders as inspirers and role models.
Soviet propagandists also exploited paternalism in aviation culture. The media presented Stalin as an example and inspiration, a father figure and role model to the most prominent Soviet pilots of the period. When recounting stories of meetings between Stalin and Chkalov, for example, Soviet newspapers spoke of Stalin's paternalism towards the young pilot. The paternal metaphor was completed with the addition of a maternal figure—Russia, the motherland, who had produced "father" Stalin's heroic sons such as Chkalov.
The use of familial metaphors not only evoked traditional hereditary pride and historic Russian patriotism, they boosted Stalin's image as a benevolent leader. Most importantly, paternalism served to promote the message of individual subordination to authority. Through his paternal relationships with Soviet pilots, Stalin developed an "ethos of deference and obedience" for Soviet society to emulate.