The 1st Air Army was an Air Army in the Soviet Air Force which served during World War II. It was formed on May 10, 1942, within the Soviet Western Front, and renamed the 26th Air Army on January 10, 1949, in the Belorussian Military District. After the war, it was reformed on July 1, 1957, and was active until 1998.

Second World War

When it was formed, the 1st Air Army was made up of two fighter aviation divisions (with four fighter aviation regiments each), two mixed aviation divisions (with two fighter aviation regiments, two assault aviation regiments and one bombing regiment each) a training aviation regiment, a long-range reconnaissance aviation regiment, a communications squadron, and a night close-range bombing aviation regiment.

Structure 1942

May 10, 1942: May 23, 1942: From 22 February 1943 until May 1946, the 18th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment served with the 303rd Aviation Division (ru:303-я истребительная авиационная дивизия) of the Army. In March 1943, the Air Army also included the French Normandie-Niemen squadron, which was later reorganized into a regiment. In 1942, the 1st Air Army fought alongside the troops of the Western Front, supporting them near Yukhnov, Gzhatsk and Rzhev. The Air Army later participated in the Rzhev-Sychevka, Rzhev-Vyazma, Oryol, Smolensk, Belarusian, Memel and East Prussian offensive operations. In May 1945, the 1st Air Army comprised the: Throughout the war, the 1st Air Army made 290,000 sorties. Five of the Air Army's formations where reorganized as "Guards Units", 50 formations were given "honourable titles", 44 formations received various awards, 145 pilots and navigators received the title "Hero of the Soviet Union" and over 17,000 of its servicemen were also given various medals and decorations.

Command structure

Source: Militera.lib.ru Commanders: Chiefs of Staff:

Postwar

There were two Air Armies active by the end of the war in the Far East, the 9th and 10th Air Armies. In the early 1949 redesignations of the Soviet Air Forces, the 9th Air Army became 54th Air Army, the 10th Air Army became 29th Air Army in the Primorsky Military District. On 1 April 1957 the two were united as the 1st Special Far Eastern Air Army, and at some later point the designation was simplified purely to 1st Air Army. On 30 April 1975 the Army was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. The army's order of battle c.1988 according to Vad777 and supplemented by Holm/Feskov et al. 2013 was: In 1989 the 1st Air Army disbanded the headquarters of the 33rd Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division, and in 1994 the headquarters of the 303rd Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division. The 1st Air Army was merged with the 11th Air Defence Army in 1998 to form the 11th Air and Air Defence Forces Army.