World War II The 911th Fighter Aviation Regiment (IAP) was formed between 25 July and 17 August 1942 at
Matveyevka-2, an airfield near
Matveyevka, Khabarovsk Krai, part of the
29th Fighter Aviation Division of the
10th Air Army. It was commanded by future
Hero of the Soviet Union Major
Alexey Yeryomin until December. The 911th was equipped with obsolete
Polikarpov I-16 fighters and on 24 November transferred to the
83rd Fighter Aviation Division. On 1 March 1943 the 911th transferred back to the 29th Fighter Aviation Division. Two weeks later, it was relocated to
Pereyaslavka airfield, where it was rearmed with
Polikarpov I-153 biplanes. On 13 April 1944 the regiment finally received modern
Lavochkin La-5 fighters. In January 1945, Major Konstantin Kotelnikov took command of the regiment, which he led until December. On 23 May, the regiment was reequipped with the improved
Lavochkin La-7. On 8 August, just before the
Soviet invasion of Manchuria on the next day, the regiment had 57 La-7s and two La-5s. During the invasion of Manchuria, which ended on 3 September, the 911th flew 80 sorties, broken down as follows: four against Japanese troops, 38 to provide air cover to advancing Soviet troops, four against Japanese airfields, and 34 reconnaissance sorties. The regiment did not participate in air combat, and destroyed a Japanese aircraft and a train car on the ground, but lost one aircraft to an operational accident.
Postwar In 1947, the 911th was relocated to
Bolshaya Elan in Sakhalin and a year later received
Lavochkin La-11 long-range escort fighters. In July 1949 the regiment was transferred to
Uelkal in the Chukotka Peninsula, becoming part of the
95th Mixed Aviation Division there. At Uelkal it assumed the mission of escorting
Tupolev Tu-4 strategic bombers. In May 1950, before the beginning of the
Korean War, pilot Captain V.S. Yefremov, flying out of
Toyohara airfield in an La-11, reported intercepting and shooting down an American
F-51 Mustang that he reported had been violating Soviet airspace. In 1952 the regiment relocated to
Anadyr but in December 1953 moved to the other side of the Soviet Union at Zasimovichi airfield, near
Pruzhany, Belarus, along with the division, which became a fighter unit. At this time the 911th began to convert to the
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, its first jet fighter. From 1957 to early 1959 it was commanded by Korean War flying ace
Vladimir Zabelin. In 1960, the regiment became a fighter-bomber aviation regiment, was relocated to
Lida, and was transferred to the
1st Guards Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division. In 1961 the unit converted to the
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17. During 1975 and 1976 the unit replaced its MiG-17s with
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21S aircraft from the
684th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. Between 1981 and 1982 the regiment replaced the MiG-21s with
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23BNs from the
236th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment and simultaneously received
Mikoyan MiG-27s and MiG-27Ks. In June 1989, the 911th Regiment was transferred to
Brand airfield in East Germany (now the
Tropical Islands Resort theme park), and became part of the
105th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division. In November 1990, according to data exchanged by the
Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, the regiment included 32 MiG-27s and 10 MiG-23UMs. As Soviet troops withdrew from Germany, the regiment was briefly transferred to
Finsterwalde on 22 June 1992, but returned to Lida on 6 July. At Lida, it became part of the
26th Air Army of the
Belarusian Air Force and on 12 August was finally transferred to
Baranovichi. The 911th Fighter-Bomber Regiment was disbanded in 1993, and its aircraft scrapped. == Aircraft operated ==