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Originally Posted by yogybär
The interesting thing is that 9.GIAD was based in the very South (Bessarabia) before they were sent for support of Lvov-Sando.
Also, later 9.GIAD was sent to a Belorussian front for support of the Berlin operation, but by then flew La7 afaik. That means, the VVS took over the german flexibility of moving units among the front to where they were needed.
Above that, still, it is really astonishing that
a) the guards units flew the P-39 with such success in spite of its bad performance.
b) such a big number of this "bad" planetype was concentrated in an important (offensive) area.
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Hello Jörg,
The 9 GIAD flew P-39s until the end of the war, although there may have been suggestions that they convert to the La-7.
As regards flexibility, I don't think there is much a of a case to be made for it on the basis of the 9 GIAD's experience, since it spent considerable periods away from the front and was conspicuously absent from many battles, most notably Kursk. To substantiate this, here is some data on the divisions' sucesses:
August-December 1942 in the Caucasus - 130 victories, March-June 1943 on the Taman' peninsula - 187 victories, 21 August-10 September 1943 in the Donbass - 130 victories, September-November 1943 on the Molochnaya river - unk victories, 10 May-5 July 1944 near Yassy - 128 victories, July 1944 during the L'vov-Sandomierz operation - 93 victories, 12 January-16 April in Poland - 30 victories, 16 April-8 May during the Battle of Berlin - 56 victories (All figures taken from "One 'MiG' in a thousand".)
The successes of the 9 GIAD are open to question, as they may have overclaimed wildly, just as many other VVS units. In fact, this is a topic of current discussion in Russia. Similarly, until the introduction of the La-7 in mid-1944, the P-39 was one of the two best fighter aircraft available to the VVS, along with the La-5FN. This explains why it gained such prominence, despite its relatively small numbers.
Yours sincerely,
Jack Sanders