In 1945, the regiment converted to the
Soviet Ilyushin Il-2/M3 and, in line with the
Soviet air force organisational charts, transformed into a ground attack
air division. For a short period, the 26th Independent Reconnaissance Air Regiment, flying the
Petlyakov Pe-2, was also based at Graf Ignatievo airfield. In the beginning of 1951,the 15th, 19th and 21st fighter air regiments (FAR) were relocated to the airfield from Karlovo to form the 10th Fighter Air Division. Those were the descendants of the of the former 6th Fighter Regiment of the His Majesty's Air Troops - their sole fighter formation, which took part in the defence of the capital of
Sofia from Allied bombing in 1943 and 1944. At the time of the relocation to Graf Ignatievo, the regiments flew only a handful of
Yakovlev Yak-11 and
Polikarpov Po-2 training aircraft in preparation for the transition to jet aircraft - the
Yak-23 and
Yak-17. The first fighters started flying in April 1951. The batch comprised only 30 Yak-23s and 4 Yak-17Us, as the Bulgarian Air Force started acquiring the
MiG-15 in September the same year. For that reason, the Yaks were transferred to the newly forming 1st Fighter Air Division in Tolbukhin (today
Dobrich, northwestern Bulgaria).
Lieutenant-Colonel Simeon Simeonov (a legendary figure in Bulgarian aviation history and future Commander of the
Bulgarian Air Force) assumed command of 10th FAD. His monument is located in the front of 3rd Fighter Air Base - Graf Ignatievo's control tower. In April 1952, the 15th FAR relocated to
Bezmer airfield, followed by the 21st FAR, moving to
Uzundzhovo airfield. In May 1955, the 1st Squadron of the 19th FAR started flying the newly acquired
MiG-17PF (12 units) with a radar targeting system. Those were the fighters involved in shooting down American spy balloons, deployed in great numbers over the country, downing seven of them. In the summer of 1957, a group of pilots, headed by squadron leader Captain Razsolkov, took an operational conversion course on the
MiG-19. A batch of 40 MiG-19S arrived at Graf Ignatievo in September, re-equipping 2/19th FAR, 3/19th FAR and a squadron of 21st FAR at
Uzundzhovo. In May 1959, an additional 12 MiG-19P relieved the MiG-17PFs of the 1/19th FAR, only to be exchanged for 12 MiG-19PMs a year later. In 1961, the 19th FAR became a unit of the newly formed
10th Composite Aviation Corps (after restructuring the 10th Fighter Air Division). In 1963, pilots of the 3/19th FAR underwent an operational conversion course on the
MiG-21F-13 at the Soviet Air Force Operational Conversion Center in Krasnodar, and even during the course, the first batch of that new aircraft type was delivered in Graf Ignatievo. In 1969, the 2/19th FAR converted to the MiG-21M. In the 1970s, the air regiment comprised two squadrons, with the 1st Squadron flying MiG-19PM/S and 2nd Squadron flying the MiG-21M. The 3rd Squadron gave away its MiG-21F-13s to the units, based at Tolbukhin and
Ravnets, upon its disbandment. 1978 saw the last MiG-19s being withdrawn from service and replaced by MiG-21MFs. The 2/19th FAR became nuclear strike-qualified, and a number of its pilots were specially trained for that task. In 1982, the air regiment took part in "
Shield '82" - the year's major
Warsaw Pact exercise, held in Bulgaria, as 18 MiG-21MFs were operationally deployed to
Shtraklevo airfield and later to
Bezmer airfield. In 1983, the unit converted to the MiG-21bis, acquiring 36 units, along with some twin-seaters. ==Modern days==