1st Soviet Fighter Aviation Group
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[edit] Unit History
In August, 1918 the unit travelled via train from Moscow to Sviyazhsk (near the city of Kazan), to be attached to the air forces of the 5th Army on the Eastern Front. Ivan Pavlov was in command, along with pilots N. G. Stombrovskii, Felix Ingaunis, Grigorii Sapozhnikov, A. I. Efimov, Evgeniy Gvaita, B. K. Bilinkin, V. I. Maltsev (Victor Ivanovich Maltsev??), N. I. Loginov, and military commissar Mikhail Vasilev. The unit had a complement of eleven Nieuport 24 fighters[1].
Constantine Akashev, the overall commander (commissar) of Soviet Air Forces, was in Kazan acting as commander of the 5th Army's air forces.
On August 16, the unit launched a bombing attack with ten airplanes against barracks and headquarters of the White forces, with each fighter pilot carrying a pair of ten pound bombs in his lap and dropping them out of the cockpit. One of the ten airplanes failed to return, for unknown reasons. In late August, Ingaunis was flying a reconnaissance flight and noticed barges on the Volga carrying White troops and headed towards Sviyazhsk. The information allowed the Red forces to successfully repulse a White attack aimed at capturing a critical bridge across the volga and destroying 5th Army headquarters and the airfield at Sviyazhsk. In September, the unit supported the Red 5th and 2nd Armies in their advance on Kazan (September 3rd-10th) with reconnaissance and patrol flights, bombing, ground attack, and air cover. After the capture of Kazan, the unit took part in battles for Simbirsk, Syzran, and Samara[1].
In December, 1918, the unit was transferred to the Southern Front near Voronezh. Shortly thereafter the unit was reformed as the 1st Fighter Aviation Division. The second and third units of the 1st Soviet Fighter Aviation Group were combined to become the Division's first unit, with the title "1st Soviet Aviation Unit" carrying over from the original Group. The Ryazansk Aviation Unit became the Division's second unit, and Khripin's unit became its third. Felix Ingaunis was named commander of the newly formed Division, with Grigorii Sapozhnikov commanding the first unit, Evgeniy Gvaita commanding the second, and V. V. Khripin commanding the third[1].
Other members of the unit: Yakov Trofimovich Konkin (pilot-observer), A. K. Petrenko, A. V. Chigorin, P. V. Levitov, V. L. Melnikov, V. N. Kudrin, P. S. Shelukhin, E. Ya. Savitskii, A. K. Serov, V. M. Shalimov
[edit] Sources
[edit] References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Nesterov's Heirs, pg. 7
