The 54th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment ( (54 GIAP);

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 of post-Soviet states, originally used by those of the Soviet Union The Soviet ...

06931) was an aviation regiment of 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

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 opposing ...

and the Cold War, which became part of the Soviet Air Defense Forces and the Russian Air Force.

World War II

The 237th Fighter Aviation Regiment began forming in May 1941. It began the war at

Varėna Varėna (; pl, Orany; yi, אוראַן ''Oran'') is a city in Dzūkija, Lithuania. History The town was founded in 1862 near the Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway, south of Sena Varėna (Old Varėna). At that time it was a small settleme ...

outside Pskov in the Baltic Special Military District as part of the 57th Mixed Aviation Division. 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 The 16th Red Banner Air Army (russian: 16-я воздушная Краснознамённая армия) was the most important formation of the Special Purpose Command. Initially formed during the Second World War as a part of the Soviet Air ...

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 Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvian SSR), also known as Soviet Latvia or simply Latvia, was a federated republic within the Soviet Union, and formally one of its 16 (later 15) constituent republics. The Latvian Soviet Socialist Rep ...

. The 54th Guards received the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 in 1950 and the

Mikoyan-Gurevich 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 ...

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.

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.

Aircraft operated

Assignments

* 220th Fighter Aviation Division, August 1942 - 2.43 * 1st Guards Fighter Aviation Division, 2.43 - 1960 *

27th Air Defence Corps The 27th Air Defense Corps () was a corps of the Soviet Air Defense Forces and briefly the Russian Air Defense Forces. Formed in 1960 from the Baltic Air Defense Corps, the corps provided air defense for the Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet Sociali ...

, 1960-12.77 * 1st Guards Fighter Aviation Division, 12.77 - 15.4.86 * 27th Air Defense Corps, 4.86 - 1992 * 148th Centre for Combat Employment and Retraining of Personnel PVO, 1992 - 2001 *

4th Centre for Combat Employment and Retraining of Personnel The 4th Centre for Combat Employment and Retraining of Personnel VVS of the Russian Air Force is a research, training, and instructional centre. It was formed at Tambov (air base) on 19 April 1953. In 1954 it was transferred to Voronezh Malshevo ...

, 2001 - 2002

Stations

*Guryevsk,

Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast (russian: Калинингра́дская о́бласть, translit=Kaliningradskaya oblast') is the westernmost federal subject of Russia. It is a semi-exclave situated on the Baltic Sea. The largest city and admin ...

, May 1945 - August 1945 4 47 15N, 20 37 10Eref name="Holm 2017"> *Vainode, Latvian SSR, 8.45 - 1992 6 24 27N, 21 53 19E*Savostleyka, Gorkiy Oblast, 1992 - present 5 26 32N, 42 18 35E

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{Cite book, title=Советские Войска ПВО в последние годы Союза ССР. Часть 1, last=Lenskii, first=A.G., last2=Tsybin, first2=M.M., publisher=Info Ol, year=2013, location=St. Petersburg, language=ru, trans-title=Soviet Air Defense Forces in the last years of the USSR: Part 1, oclc=861180616 Fighter regiments of the Soviet Air Forces Fighter regiments of the Soviet Air Defence Forces Regiments of the Russian Air Forces Fighter aviation regiments of the Soviet Union in World War II Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations disestablished in 2002