The 149th Mixed Aviation Division (149 ''sad'') (;

Military Unit Number A Military Unit Number (Russian: Войсковая часть) is a numeric alternate designation for military units in the armed forces and Internal Troops, internal troops of post-Soviet states, originally used by those of the Soviet Union. Fo ...

63352 after 1992) was an

aviation division An Aviation Division (russian: авиационная дивизия) was a type of formation of the Soviet Air Forces, Military Air Forces of the Red Army during the Second World War, the Soviet Air Forces, Soviet Air Defence Forces (PVO) and ...

of the

Russian Air Force " Air March" , mascot = , anniversaries = 12 August , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = , decorations = , bat ...

. The division began its history as the 149th Fighter Aviation Division PVO of the Soviet National Air Defense Forces (PVO) during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, stationed in the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

. It participated in the

Soviet invasion of Manchuria The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian strategic offensive operation (russian: Манчжурская стратегическая наступательная операция, Manchzhurskaya Strategicheskaya Nastu ...

and was transferred to the

Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

in 1952. The division was sent to serve in China for air defense before being transferred to Poland in 1955, where it became part of the 37th (later the 4th) Air Army. Headquartered at

Szprotawa Szprotawa (german: Sprottau) is a town in western Poland, in Żagań County, Lubusz Voivodeship. It has 11,820 inhabitants (2019). History The region was part of Poland after the emergence of the Piast monarchy in the 10th century. The first me ...

, the division converted to

attack aircraft An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pre ...

in 1960, becoming the 149th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division. The division was redesignated as the 149th Bomber Aviation Division when its units received the

Sukhoi Su-24 The Sukhoi Su-24 ( NATO reporting name: Fencer) is a supersonic, all-weather attack aircraft developed in the Soviet Union. The aircraft has a variable-sweep wing, twin-engines and a side-by-side seating arrangement for its crew of two. It wa ...

in 1982 and was withdrawn from Poland after the end of the Cold War. Under the Russian Air Force, the division was renamed the 149th Mixed Aviation Division and controlled the fixed-wing bomber and reconnaissance aircraft regiments of the

76th Air Army The 76th Air Army was a unit of the Soviet Air Forces from 1949–1980, and again from 1988–98. As the 13th Air Army, it was originally formed on 25 November 1942 and based on air units of the Leningrad Front. 13th Air Army's initial components ...

and then the

6th Air and Air Defence Forces Army The 6th Red Banner Leningrad Army of Air and Air Defence Forces (russian: 6-я Краснознамённая Ленинградская армия Военно-воздушных сил и противовоздушной обороны) is an Ai ...

in the

Leningrad Military District The Leningrad Military District was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern Fleet and the Baltic Fleet to form the new Western Military District. Hi ...

before its disbandment in the 2000s.

History

World War II

The division was formed at

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( rus, Хабaровск, a=Хабаровск.ogg, r=Habárovsk, p=xɐˈbarəfsk) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China ...

during

as the 149th Fighter Aviation Division PVO (IAD) on 7 August 1942, part of the Far Eastern Air Defense Zone of the

Far Eastern Front The Far Eastern Front (Russian: Дальневосточный фронт) was a front — a level of military formation that is equivalent to army group — of the Red Army during the Second World War. Early war service Тhe Far Eastern Front was ...

(DVF). Major Yefim Chervyakov, promoted to lieutenant colonel on 16 October of that year, was appointed division commander. The division included three fighter aviation regiments (IAP), the

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

, the

18th 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. In mathematics * Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9. Three of these divisors (3, 6 and 9) add up to 18, hence 18 is a semiperfect number. ...

at Khabarovsk, and the 60th at Dzyomgi, which had all previously been under

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

(VVS) control. The 18th IAP was equipped with the modern

LaGG-3 The Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3 (Лавочкин-Горбунов-Гудков ЛаГГ-3) was a Soviet fighter aircraft of World War II. It was a refinement of the earlier LaGG-1 and was one of the most modern aircraft available to the Sov ...

, but the 3rd and 60th IAPs still retained the obsolete

Polikarpov I-16 The Polikarpov I-16 (russian: Поликарпов И-16) is a Soviet single-engine single-seat fighter aircraft of revolutionary design; it was the world's first low-wing cantilever monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear to attain ope ...

; Soviet aviation units in the Far East were low-priority for receiving new aircraft since they were not in an active combat zone. The regiments of the 149th IAD PVO were the only aviation units within the air defense zone until 1945. The 3rd IAP was transferred back to the

11th Air Army 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first attested i ...

of the VVS DVF on 10 April 1943 but returned to the 149th IAD on 9 June; it was shifted back to the 11th Air Army on 26 October, leaving the division with only the 18th and 60th IAPs. Chervyakov was relieved of command in mid-October 1943 due to a high accident rate in the division. He was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Kozlov. In early 1945, the 18th and 60th IAPs converted to the

Yakovlev Yak-9 The Yakovlev Yak-9 (russian: Яковлев Як-9) is a single-engine, single-seat multipurpose fighter aircraft used by the Soviet Union and its allies during World War II and the early Cold War. It was a development of the robust and successf ...

. The new 3rd IAP, renamed from the 534th IAP when the units swapped designations, joined the 149th from the

10th Air Army The 10th Air Army was a unit of the Soviet Air Forces during World War II and the Cold War years. World War II The unit was originally formed on Sakhalin Island on August 15, 1942, on the basis of the Air Force of the 25th Army of the Far East ...

of the VVS DVF on 5 May 1945 and converted to the Yak-9 before the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. During the same month, the 400th IAP PVO joined the division after arriving from Europe by rail without aircraft and received the

Lavochkin La-7 The Lavochkin La-7 (russian: Лавочкин Ла-7) was a piston-engined single-seat Soviet fighter aircraft developed during World War II by the Lavochkin Design Bureau. It was a development and refinement of the Lavochkin La-5, and the la ...

before the invasion began. The division became part of the Amur Air Defense Army when the zone was split in 1945 and during the

, it provided air cover for

Komsomolsk-on-Amur Komsomolsk-on-Amur ( rus, Комсомольск-на-Амуре, r=Komsomolsk-na-Amure, p=kəmsɐˈmolʲsk nɐɐˈmurʲə) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located on the west bank of the Amur Rive ...

, and Nikolayevsk as well as rear communications, concentration areas, and troops of the

2nd Far Eastern Front __NOTOC__ The 2nd Far Eastern Front (russian: 2-й Дальневосточный фронт) was a Front—a formation equivalent to a Western Army Group—of the Soviet Army. It was formed just prior to the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and was a ...

. Elements of the division participated in the

Sungari Offensive The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian strategic offensive operation (russian: Манчжурская стратегическая наступательная операция, Manchzhurskaya Strategicheskaya Nastu ...

and the

Soviet invasion of South Sakhalin The Soviet invasion of South Sakhalin, also known as the Battle of Sakhalin (russian: Южно-Сахалинская операция; ja, 樺太の戦い), was the Soviet invasion of the Japanese portion of Sakhalin Island known as Karafu ...

, in which they did not face Japanese air resistance. The lack of Japanese air activity and bad weather resulted in the units of the division flying very few combat missions during the war; for example, four out of 22 sorties flown by the 18th IAP were escort for the transport aircraft of Soviet theatre commander

Marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...

Aleksandr Vasilevsky Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Vasilevsky ( ru , Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Василе́вский) (30 September 1895 – 5 December 1977) was a Soviet career-officer in the Red Army who attained the rank of Marshal of the Soviet ...

. After the end of the war, Kozlov commanded the division until his death in an accident near the Nikolayevka airfield on 7 June 1946.

Cold War

The 3rd IAP was re-equipped with the Yak-3 in January 1946 and entered the jet age when it received the MiG-15 in September 1951. The 400th IAD was disbanded in 1946. The 582nd IAP was transferred to the division from the 249th IAD in February 1949, replacing the 60th IAP which was shifted to the Air Force. The division was shifted from the PVO to the Air Force on 29 January 1952, coming under the

54th Air Army The 9th Air Army was a military formation of the Soviet Air Forces, active from August 1942 until April 1957, which operated in the Far East. History It was formed on August 15, 1942 after an order of the NPO of the USSR of July 27, 1942 on the ...

of the

Far Eastern Military District The Far Eastern Military District (russian: Дальневосточный военный округ; Dalʹnevostochnyĭ voennyĭ okrug) was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Pacific ...

. The division, headquartered at Sanshilipu provided air defense for the

Liaodong Peninsula The Liaodong Peninsula (also Liaotung Peninsula, ) is a peninsula in southern Liaoning province in Northeast China, and makes up the southwestern coastal half of the Liaodong region. It is located between the mouths of the Daliao River (the ...

in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

between 11 October 1952 and 18 April 1955, and trained

People's Liberation Army Air Force The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF; ), also known as the Chinese Air Force (中国空军) or the People's Air Force (人民空军), is an aerial service branch of the People's Liberation Army, the regular armed forces of the Peo ...

(PLAAF) pilots on jet aircraft. The 582nd was based at

Jinzhou Jinzhou (, ), formerly Chinchow, is a coastal prefecture-level city in central-west Liaoning province, China. It is a geographically strategic city located in the Liaoxi Corridor, which connects most of the land transports between North Chin ...

. The 149th IAD was railed to Poland between 18 April and 23 May 1955, handing its aircraft over to the PLAAF. In Poland, the division became part of the

37th Air Army The 37th Air Army ( rus, 37-я воздушная армия, r=37 Vozdushnaya Armiya) of the High Supreme Command (Strategic Purpose) was the strategic bomber force of the Russian Air Force from 1998 to 2009. It was equipped with Tupolev Tu-95M ...

of the

Northern Group of Forces The Northern Group of Forces (; ) was the military formation of the Soviet Army stationed in People's Republic of Poland, Poland from the end of World War II, Second World War in 1945 until 1993 when they were withdrawn in the aftermath of the fal ...

and was headquartered at

. The 582nd was based at the

Piła Piła (german: Schneidemühl) is a city in northwestern Poland and the capital of Piła County, situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. Its population as of 2021 was 71,846, making it the third-largest city in the voivodeship after Poznań ...

airfield, but in June transferred to the 239th IAD of the 37th Air Army. The 582nd was replaced in the 149th IAD by the 42nd Guards IAP of the 239th. The 3rd IAP received the

MiG-17 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-17; NATO reporting name: Fresco) is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the Soviet Union from 1952 and was operated by air forces internationally. The MiG-17 w ...

in August. The division was redesignated as the 149th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division (IBAD) on 1 September 1960. Its regiments accordingly became fighter-bomber aviation regiments (IBAP) and the 3rd and 18th received the Su-7B fighter-bomber. The 3rd and 18th IBAP converted to the

Mikoyan MiG-27 The Mikoyan MiG-27 (russian: Микоян МиГ-27; NATO reporting name: Flogger-D/J) is a variable-sweep ground-attack aircraft, originally built by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union and later licence-produced in Ind ...

in 1976, and the fighter-bomber regiments of the division were redesignated aviation regiments of fighter-bombers (APIB) later that year, with the division redesignated as the 149th ADIB. The 18th APIB was renumbered as the 89th APIB on 15 October 1981. The regiments of the division became receiving the

strike aircraft in December 1982 (for the 3rd APIB) and in July 1982 the 149th was renamed the 149th Bomber Aviation Division (BAD). Its regiments accordingly became bomber aviation regiments (BAP). According to data released under the

Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe The original Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) was negotiated and concluded during the last years of the Cold War and established comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment in Europe (from the Atlan ...

, the regiments of the division had 69 Su-24s between them on 19 November 1990.

Russian service

After the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, the division became part of the

Russian Air Force " Air March" , mascot = , anniversaries = 12 August , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = , decorations = , bat ...

. The division headquarters and the 89th Bomber Aviation Regiment were withdrawn to the

in spring 1992. The 42nd Guards BAP was disbanded at

Voronezh Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the ...

while the 3rd BAP was disbanded at Lebyazhye with its Su-24s mothballed in the Urals. The division became the 149th Mixed Aviation Division (SAD) under the

and headquartered at

Smuravyevo Smuravyevo (Russian: Смуравьёво) (also Gdov or Smurav'yevo) is a former airbase of the Russian Air Force and former closed city in Pskov Oblast, Russia. Location This medium-sized base is located 14 km northeast of Gdov, 63 km ...

, taking over the army's 67th (

Siversky Siversky (russian: Си́верский) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Gatchinsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, on the bank of the Oredezh River. Its population was The banks of the Oredezh River through Siversky a ...

-2) and 722nd (

) Bomber Aviation Regiments and its 98th Guards Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment (

Monchegorsk Monchegorsk (russian: Мончего́рск) is a town in Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located on the Kola Peninsula, south of Murmansk, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: 52,242 ( 2002 Census); 68,652 ( 1989 Census). Name The ...

). The headquarters of the 89th Bomber Aviation Regiment, withdrawn to Siversky-2, was disbanded and its aircraft handed over to the 67th Bomber Aviation Regiment. As a result of these reorganizations, the 149th controlled the only combat aviation regiments in the air army. The division continued to exist after the February 1998 merger of

into

as part of the latter. According to Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe data on 1 January 2000, the division had a total of 2,150 personnel in its three regiments with 26 MiG-25RB and 20 Su-24MR in the 98th Guards Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment, 37 Su-24M in the 67th Bomber Aviation Regiment, and 29 Su-24M in the 722nd Bomber Aviation Regiment for a total of 112 aircraft. The division and its regiments were included in

Kommersant ''Kommersant'' (russian: Коммерсантъ, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia ...

's articles on the Russian military structure in 2005. When Piotr Butowski wrote two articles for ''Air Forces Monthly'' in July and August 2007, the 6th Air and Air Defence Forces Army was covered in the August 2007 issue. Both the 67th and 722nd Bomber Aviation Regiments were included in the listing, at Siverskiy-2 and Smuravyevo (Gdov) respectively, but there was no listing of any 149th Mixed Aviation Division. The division was not listed in the 2008 Kommersant article on the structure of the Russian Air Force. The Smuravyevo airfield was closed circa 2010.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * *{{Cite book , last1=Lensky , first1=A.G. , title=Военная авиация отечества - Организация, вооружение, дислокация (1991/2000 г.г.) , last2=Tsybin , first2=M.M. , publisher=Edelveys , year=2004 , location=St. Petersburg , language=ru , trans-title=Military Aviation of the Fatherland: Organization, Armament, and Basing 1991/2000 , oclc=54860360

External links

1999 76th Air Army instruction for flights in the area of Smuravyevo, proves existence of division
Aviation divisions of the Russian Air Forces Military units and formations disestablished in the 2000s Pskov Oblast