January 21 (June) In 1991, the
114th Tallinn Red Banner Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Soviet Air Force was withdrawn from the city of
Milovice,
Czechoslovakia, where it was part of the
Central Group of Forces. The regiment was armed with
MiG-29 fighters. At that time, the 145th Fighter Aviation Regiment, also armed with MiG-29s, was based in Ivano-Frankivsk. The personnel of the regiment swore allegiance to
Ukraine on January 19, 1992. In accordance with the directive of the Minister of Defense dated December 2, 2002, the
114th Fighter Aviation Regiment was merged with support units, resulting in the formation of a tactical aviation brigade. The flight crew is engaged in planned flight activities, and has repeatedly successfully performed flight tasks, flight-tactical exercises at
Ivano-Frankivsk,
Saky, Belbek, Lymanske,
Lutsk, and Ozerne airfields. In 2006, for the first time since 1993, the flight and tactical training of the aviation squadron was conducted, and finally, the aviation brigade participated in the command and staff training of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "Clear Sky". During these exercises, Major
Serhiy Golubtsov made a training and combat sortie and forced a conditional violator of the state border to land at a designated airfield. From March 12 to April 7, 2007, at the base of the fighter aviation brigade, a flight training session was held with the fighter aircraft of the United Rapid Response Forces of the Ukrainian Air Force in order to prepare for the class of fighter aircraft of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Air Force on MiG-29 aircraft for complex types of flight training. In April 2007, the flight crew successfully completed the task of meeting with the aviation flight crew of the Ukrainian Air Force on ground targets. On August 24, 2009, the aircraft of the 114th Brigade participated in the aviation part of the
Independence Day Parade in Kyiv. In connection with the holding of
UEFA Euro 2012, the MiG-29 (b/n 55) was on combat duty to cover the airspace of Ukraine during the football tournament. In the second half of 2012, the MiG-29 (b/n 55) together with its "brother" MiG-29 (b/n 54) were repainted in blue-yellow camouflage colors and became the so-called "pseudo-Sokols." The planes were painted in these colors for a demonstration flight over the
Hostomel Airport during the Aviasvit-XXI exhibition.
Russo-Ukrainian War Since the beginning of the
Russo-Ukrainian War in Donbas 2014, the entire personnel of the unit has been on combat duty. In the summer of 2014, a consolidated group was formed, which participated in combat sorties to strike at Russian separatist columns. For a search zone flight, a typical load of the MiG-29 consisted of two outboard fuel tanks, two units of unguided C8 rockets, and sometimes, if the fuel supply allowed, a pair of RBC bomb cartridges. The first sorties of MiG-29s to isolate the area of hostilities were marked on August 5. In the Donetsk region, the search zones were designated in
Yenakiieve,
Shakhtarsk, and
Amvrosiivka districts, and in Luhansk - around Luhansk. To ensure an almost continuous presence in the search areas, the MiG-29 flew up to three sorties per day for each side (although not every day). But there is still no accurate data about the MiG-29 (b/n 53) shot down on August 17 near Luhansk. Airmen decorated for combat actions include: • Lieutenant Colonel Mykola Mykolayovych Hayovchyk • Colonel Dmytro Oleksandrovich Makarov • Major Yakushevsky Oleksiy Viktorovych On March 16, 2017, senior ensign Denega Vadym Vasyliovych tragically died in the area of the city of
Sloviansk. On November 3, 2017, Nesterenko Anatoliyovych Valery died of a sudden heart attack. On May 16, 2019, ensign Jus Vasyl Bogdanovych died during a two-sided battle from a fatal wound as a result of mortar shelling of the combat positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces by terrorists near the village of . Technicians and mechanics of the brigade reported they are sometimes reassigned to infantry roles, serving in airborne assault troops, to protect the airfield, ever since 2014.
Full scale invasion On June 2, 2023, Major Vladyslav Saveliev was conducting combat operations when his MiG was fatally hit by a Russian missile. Saveliev was killed. He used to train in
Columbus, even before the war and was said to be one of the candidates to be trained on the
F-16. in 2024 his name was engraved at
Columbus Air Force Base next to his US-American comrades. == Modernization ==