On August 12, Russia celebrates Air Force Day. After the creation in 2015 of the Russian Aerospace Forces (RF Aerospace Forces), which included the country's Air Force, the holiday began to be celebrated as the Day of the Russian Aerospace Forces. The Russian air force has existed for more than a century, and during this time has managed to go through a glorious military path. Today the Russian Aerospace Forces are considered one of the most powerful in the world.
106 years ago, on August 12, 1912, by the decree of Emperor Nicholas II, the state of the aeronautic unit of the Main Directorate of the General Staff was formed in the country. This is the starting point in the history of the Russian air force.
Military pilots did not always celebrate their holiday on this day; for a long time, the date of the celebration changed many times. So, in 1924, by Frunze's decision, the celebration of the Air Force Day was postponed to July 14. And in 1933, Stalin had already postponed the date of the celebration to August 18. At the same time, Air Force Day in the Soviet Union received the status of a public holiday. This was influenced by the successes in the development of the aviation industry of the young Soviet state.
In the future, the date of the celebration was changed several times. They finally returned to the date of August 12 in 2006, when, taking into account the historical past, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree "On the establishment of professional holidays and memorable days in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation."
The military aviation of our country has a glorious and long history. It was the Russian military pilot Pyotr Nikolayevich Nesterov who laid the foundations of aerobatics, for the first time in history performing the complex element of the "loop", in Russia this figure of complex aerobatics is sometimes called Nesterov's loop. The pilot demonstrated his skills on August 27 (September 9) 1913 in Kiev over the Syretsky field. Nesterov's great merit was that he was the first to use the lift of an aircraft wing to perform maneuvers not only in the horizontal, but also in the vertical plane.
Pyotr Nikolaevich Nesterov
Russian military aviation performed well during the First World War. Despite the fact that the Russian industry was then lagging behind the military industry of other states, and Russian military pilots fought mainly on foreign-made aircraft, it was in Russia in 1915 that Russian designers created the world's first serial multi-engine bomber "Ilya Muromets", and also a specialized fighter plane to accompany him. For its time, the four-engined bomber "Ilya Muromets" was a unique aircraft, which set a number of records for carrying capacity, time and maximum flight altitude.
In Soviet times, even more attention and efforts were paid to the development of military aviation. Everyone was well aware that in future battles aviation would show itself to the fullest. In the pre-war period, a large number of excellent combat aircraft were created and put into mass production in the Soviet Union, among which were the famous Il-2 "flying tank" attack aircraft, the Yak-1 light maneuverable fighter, and the Pe-2 dive bomber.
Throughout the Great Patriotic War, Soviet military pilots showed massive heroism and made a huge contribution to the common victory. In total, 44,093 pilots were trained in the country during the war years, of which 27,600 were killed in action: 11,874 fighter pilots, 7,837 attack pilots, 6,613 members of bomber crews, 689 auxiliary pilots and 587 reconnaissance pilots. During the war years, more than 600 Soviet pilots carried out aerial rams, their exact number is still unknown. Moreover, more than 2/3 of all air rams fell on the first years of the war - 1941-1942. Our air aces Ivan Kozhedub (62 victories) and Alexander Pokryshkin (59 victories) also became the most effective fighter pilots of the Great Patriotic War and World War II. For their exploits in the sky, they were three times awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In the postwar years, the main direction of the country's air force development was the transition from piston aviation to jet aviation. Work on the first jet aircraft began in the USSR back in 1943-1944, and such an aircraft made its first flight in March 1945. During flight tests, a flight speed exceeding 800 km / h was achieved. On April 24, 1946, the first Soviet serial jet aircraft, the Yak-15 and MiG-9 fighters, took to the skies. The massive use of jet aircraft began in 1947-1949, when serial MiG-15 and La-15 jet fighters with swept wing appeared, as well as the first Soviet front-line bomber with Il-28 turbojet engines.
In the early 1980s, aircraft of the fourth generation began to enter service with the Air Force, which were characterized by a significant improvement in maneuverability and flight performance. The regiments began to receive modern Su-27, MiG-29 and MiG-31 fighters, Su-25 attack aircraft, and the world's largest strategic supersonic bombers Tu-160. At the same time, the fourth generation aircraft - MiG-29, Su-27, MiG-31, created taking into account the advanced achievements of science and technology of the USSR, are still in service with the Russian Air Force. The existing groundwork allowed for the modernization of these aircraft, as well as for the creation of new models of the 4+ generation on their basis, which constitute the basis of the RF Air Force fleet at this point in time.
Nowadays, the Russian Air Force is a branch of the military, which is part of the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation. The Russian Air Force is designed to repel aggression in the air and protect from air strikes command posts of the highest levels of military and state administration, administrative and political centers of the country, industrial and economic regions, the most important objects of the economy and infrastructure of Russia and groupings of troops (forces); destruction of enemy targets and troops using both conventional and nuclear weapons; aviation support for combat operations of troops (forces) of other types and arms of troops.
Military aviation continues to perform a very wide range of tasks: protection and patrolling of the country's air borders; transportation of troops, weapons and military equipment; landing units. In addition, the crews of the Russian Air Force are regularly involved in special tasks, for example, providing air patrols, evacuating victims of emergencies and natural disasters, extinguishing large forest fires and solving many other tasks. As part of combat training, the air force flight personnel work out various issues and tasks to repel air aggression of a potential enemy, and provide air cover for ground forces. Not a single major Russian military exercise can do without the participation of the Air Force these days.
Since 2015, Russian military pilots, at the request of the official authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic, have been carrying out combat missions in Syria as part of a military operation against the Islamic State terrorist group (Islamic State (IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia).
New modern threats and challenges facing the Russian Air Force today require their modernization and renewal. In recent years, this process has been especially active. According to information from open sources, the Russian Air Force's aviation fleet currently consists of more than 800 fighters (Su-27, Su-30, Su-35, MiG-29 and MiG-31), about 150 attack aircraft (Su-24 and Su- 34), about 200 attack aircraft (Su-25), as well as 150 training aircraft (including the Yak-130), about 70 strategic bombers (Tu-95 and Tu-160), more than 40 long-range Tu-missile bombers 22M3.
On August 12, Voennoye Obozreniye congratulates all military pilots, both active and veterans, on their professional holiday - Air Force Day!
