It is widely believed that by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, there were no pilots in the Soviet Union who could fight on equal terms with the Luftwaffe aces. However, it is not. Of course, there were a huge number of problems in the training of young pilots and the development of new models of fighters and other aviation equipment, but there were also such units in the Soviet Air Force that by June 22 had colossal combat experience. One of these units was the 19th Separate Fighter Aviation Regiment (IAP), which was formed near Leningrad 80 years ago - on March 22, 1938. The regiment included Soviet aces who fought in the Spanish skies, during the war they fought on 7 fronts, shooting down a total of 445 enemy aircraft.
The formation of a new fighter aviation regiment from among the pilots who fought during the Spanish Civil War was carried out as the formation of a unit designed to carry out important tasks of the military command and the Soviet government. The formation of the new IAP began on March 22, 1938 in Gorelovo near Leningrad, the regiment was created on the basis of the 58th and 70th fighter squadrons, as well as the 33rd separate reconnaissance squadron. After the completion of the formation, the new unit was called the 19th Separate Fighter Aviation Regiment.
In 1939, it was the pilots of the 19th separate IAP who were entrusted with conducting military tests of a new version of the I-16 fighter with M-63 engines. Later, during the Great Patriotic War, this regiment was one of the first in the Red Army Air Force to receive the new La-5 fighters at the end of October 1942, and on June 16, 1944, the first in the Red Army Air Force to receive the La-7 fighters.
A pair of I-16 fighters in flight
In September-October 1939, the regiment, as part of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Front, took part in the liberation of Western Ukraine, making 1420 sorties. He took part in the battles on Khalkhin Gol and in the Soviet-Finnish war, where he flew 3412 sorties, damaging or destroying 74 steam locomotives, 5 echelons, two aircraft on the ground and 3 more in air battles. For exemplary performance of command assignments during the Soviet-Finnish war and the courage and valor shown by the personnel, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 11, 1940, the regiment was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, becoming a Red Banner.
The first victory in the Great Patriotic War
By June 22, 1941, the 19th Red Banner IAP was part of the Air Force of the Northern Front and was based at the Gorelovo airfield. The regiment consisted of 4 regular squadrons and the 5th attached one, in total the regiment had 50 I-16 fighters, 20 I-153 "Chaika" fighters and 15 MiG-3 fighters, 85 pilots. From the first days of the war, German and then Finnish reconnaissance aircraft methodically probed the defenses of Leningrad, trying to establish the location of airfields and positional areas of anti-aircraft artillery, since it was madness to bomb a well-defended city blindly. The sky over Leningrad was covered by the 7th Air Defense Fighter Corps, which included the 19th IAP.
The regiment's pilots won their first victory in air combat on July 6, 1941. On this day, Lieutenant Dmitry Titorenko on an I-16 fighter shot down a German twin-engine Ju-88D reconnaissance aircraft near the village of Bezzabotnoye. Titorenko climbed to a height of 4500 meters, went into the enemy's tail and with two neat bursts managed to literally cut the console of the left plane. After that, the German plane crashed to the ground, and its crew, who jumped out with parachutes, was captured. Shortly thereafter, a German map was delivered to the headquarters of the fighter group from this aircraft. On this map, which survived after the plane crash, triangles were marked in blue pencil near the operating airfields of Kerstovo, Kotly, Komendantsky, Gorskaya, Kasimovo and others. Thanks to the information received, it became clear that the Nazis were preparing an attack on the network of airfields around Leningrad. The aerial victory won by Lieutenant Titorenko made it possible to remove most of the aircraft from the enemy's attack, saving them for further aerial battles. For this battle, the fighter pilot was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
Dmitry Titorenko then went through the entire Great Patriotic War, and when in 1944 the 19th Red Banner IAP was renamed the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, he began to fly as a wingman of the most effective Soviet ace Ivan Kozhedub, who took the post of deputy regiment commander in August 1944. …
The first ramming by the pilot of the regiment
On July 20, 1941, the fighter pilot of the 19th Red Banner IAP Viktor Pavlovich Klykov made an air ram. In his 28th combat sortie in the area of the village of Bereznevo, as part of the regiment's fighter link, he attacked the superior enemy forces - 8 German bombers, accompanied by 10 fighters, heading for Leningrad.
In the operational summary of the regiment headquarters, it was clarified that on July 20, 1941, Lieutenant Klykov on a LaGG-3 aircraft at 10: 30-10: 50 conducted an air battle near the village of Bereznevo with Me-109 and Me-110 enemy fighters. With the first attack, he shot down a Me-109 fighter, but he himself was shot down, the plane's engine was on fire. Despite the damage, he managed to catch up and ram the Me-110, by entering from below from behind, he cut off the tail of the German fighter. At the same time, the pilot managed to successfully eject (he was simply thrown out of the fighter after the impact, he unfastened the retaining straps in advance). The enemy fighters shot down by Fang fell near the village of Oznanka. At the same time, two paratroopers jumped out of the Me-110, who were caught on the ground by collective farmers. Lieutenant Klykov himself bruised his leg during the landing and was taken to the medical unit in Gorelovo.
Lieutenant Viktor Pavlovich Klykov
For an air ram committed on July 20, 1941, Viktor Pavlovich Klykov was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but the award found him only in 1998, when he was presented with the title of Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously). The pilot's rewarding during the Great Patriotic War was prevented by the fact that on October 6, 1941, he did not return to the airfield from a combat mission. The wording "did not return from a combat mission" was then equated with the wording "missing." This circumstance did not allow the petition to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to the pilot. It was only after the war that it was established that Lieutenant Klykov died in battle, his plane was attacked by two German fighters, and the remains of the hero were found and reburied by the search engines.
In total, in air battles near Leningrad, the pilots of the 19th Red Banner IAP shot down 63 enemy aircraft, damaging another 13 combat vehicles. Up to 40 German aircraft were destroyed by them as a result of assault operations at enemy airfields. At the same time, the personnel of the regiment made 5-6 sorties per day, which was given at the cost of the greatest overextension of forces and the subsequent losses. In these battles, the regiment lost 57 aircraft and 30 pilots.
The first "free hunters"
Since January 1944, the fighter pilots of the 19th IAP were the first in the Red Army Air Force to master the tactics of the so-called "free hunt". By this time, the Soviet pilots were able to finally and irrevocably secure air supremacy. To keep it, they adopted tactics that were previously used in the air only by the Germans. Only the most experienced and trained pairs “leader - slave” were sent to the “free hunt”. A clear task was not set for them - the command only designated the square in which the fighters were supposed to operate. Already in the air, the officers had to independently search for German aircraft and make a decision - to engage with them or it is better to retreat, to pursue enemy aircraft or not. Each pair usually had its own square, so the fighter pilots were very well guided in it for 2-3 sorties. It often happened that the "hunters" were directed to the detected aerial targets by duty groups on the ground.
The famous Soviet ace Alexander Pokryshkin called "free hunting" the highest form of combat activity for an air soldier: “Using exceptional cunning and possession of his aircraft, the pilot boldly and confidently strikes the enemy, doing it with lightning speed and suddenness. An ace must have highly developed intelligence and initiative, confidence in himself and in decisions made in a combat situation. Panic and confusion are alien to the ace. " During the four years of World War II, the pilots of the 19th Red Banner IAP, and from August 19, 1944, of the 176th Guards IAP, flew more than 3,500 "free hunting" sorties.
So, already at the very end of the war, on April 19, 1945, a pair of Alexander Kumanichkin and Sergei Kramarenko (both at that time were Heroes of the Soviet Union) attacked four German FW-190 fighters near Kustrin. The outcome of the air battle was decided in just seconds. Kumanichkin struck the leader of one enemy link, and Kramarenko shot down the commander of the other. The Germans, realizing who they were dealing with, panicked and 6 enemy fighters simply withdrew from the battle. It should be noted that in different years, 29 Heroes of the Soviet Union served in this regiment.
First aerobatics
It was from the day of the formation of the 19th separate IAP that the legendary TsPAT - the 237th Guards Proskurov Center for the Display of Aviation Equipment - began its history. The aerobatic teams "Russian Knights" and "Swifts", known all over the world today, are direct descendants of those "free hunters" during the Great Patriotic War. In August 1945, the 176th Guards IAP was relocated to the Teply Stan airfield located in the Moscow region. The regiment's pilots practiced aerobatics here, both single and group. Later they took part in air parades over Moscow, and also mastered new jet fighters. In the summer of 1950, the pilots of this regiment at the air show in Tushino for the first time demonstrated to the public the group aerobatics of "fives" on the latest MiG-15 fighters. On the same fighters, Soviet veterans fought in the Korean skies with American pilots on the "Cyber", having chalked up 107 enemy aircraft.
At the end of the 1950s, the formation of the new 234th IAP on the basis of the aerobatic pilots of the 176th Guards IAP began. In February 1952, the new aviation unit moved to Kubinka, where it is based today. It was the “free hunters” of the former 176th regiment that had the great honor to accompany the planes of all Soviet cosmonauts in the sky, starting with the first of them - Yuri Gagarin. At the end of 1967, these same pilots for the first time in post-war history paid a friendly visit to a foreign country - Sweden. Since then, they have been welcome guests at many major air shows around the world.
In 1989, the 234th IAP was reorganized into the 237th Guards display center for military equipment. On April 4, 1991, on the basis of his first squadron, which was armed with heavy Su-27 fighters, the aerobatic group "Russian Knights" was formed, and on May 6, 1991, from the best pilots of the second squadron, which was armed with light MiG-29 fighters, was the Swifts aerobatic team was officially formed.
