Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum  

Go Back   Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum > Discussion > Pre-WW2 Military and Naval Aviation

Pre-WW2 Military and Naval Aviation Please use this forum to discuss Military and Naval Aviation before the Second World War.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 7th November 2015, 02:09
James A Pratt III James A Pratt III is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 537
James A Pratt III is on a distinguished road
VVS 1922-39

I am interested in the size, number of aircraft, men, number of units of the VVS or Soviet air force or however it was designated during the between the wars period 1922-39. Number of planes, men, and units. I am mainly interested in the 1934 period. thanks in advance.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 14th November 2015, 04:40
GuerraCivil GuerraCivil is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Finland
Posts: 228
GuerraCivil is on a distinguished road
Re: VVS 1922-39

Mikhail Maslov (2010) gives following regarding the aircraft strenght of fighter units of Soviet Army and Naval Air Force in 1939 based on figures of Red Army Air Force Department on 14.9.1939:
- 4478 fighters in combat units + 604 fighters in training units.

Soviet Air Force were organized by late 1930´s quite like the US Air Forces - there were Army and Naval air force branches:
Soviet Army Ar Foirce=Red Army Air Force=VVS RKKA (abbreviation based on the Russian words Voenne-Vozdushnye Sily Raboche Krestiyanskoy Krasnii Armi, literally translated The Air Force of the Red Army of the Workers and Peasants)
Soviet Naval Air Force=VVS MF (another abbreviation based on Russian words with VVS meaning again the military air Force and MF meaning the military maritime fleet of USSR).

Carl-Fredrik Geust (2011) gives following numbers dated on 1.10.1939:
VVS RKKA (Red Army Air Force) - in total 12 667 aircraft in 136 flight regiments. To these should be added the units of Soviet Naval Air Force (VVS MMF) which was officially separated from the VVS RKKA on 30.12.1937.
Geust gives about the VVS MMF more spesific details about the Northern Fleet Aviation (VVS KBF) and Baltic Fleet Aviation (VVS KBF) on 30.11.1939:
- VVS KBF (Baltic Fleet)- 469 aircraft in 4 flight regiments, 9 separate squadrons and in some other small units.
- VVS KF (Northern Fleet) - just 45 aircraft (all MBR-2) in one flight regiment and in one separate squadron.


Geust gives also following about the training volumes by late 1930´s:
- by the end of 1937 the Soviet air forces (VVS RKKA+ VVS MF) included 18 aviation schools and 6 technical schools with 22 707 cadets (of which 9021 were flight trainees and 2850 were gunner or observer trainees), 7780 aviation mechanics and 2776 armament trainees and other students. The aviation schools had by the end of 1937 as many as 3007 aircraft.

More details from Geust:
The Soviet air forces needed more officers during their growth and as many as 5670 officers were transferred from Soviet ground and naval forces to air forces during the years 1928 - 1938. However during the purges of 1937-1939 as many as 5616 high-ranked officers were expelled from the air forces and imprisoned (in many cases executed).
By 1.1.1939 the Soviet air force personnal was up to 203 600.

References:
Maslov 2010: Polikarpov I-15, I-16 and I-153 Aces, p. 12.
Geust, C-F 2011: The Winter War in Air, p. 9-11.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 14th November 2015, 10:30
Lennart Andersson Lennart Andersson is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 128
Lennart Andersson
Re: VVS 1922-39

This is of course a vast and complex subject, but if you want to learn more, you could try to find a copy of my book "Soviet Aircraft and Aviation 1917-1941:
http://z-bok.se/catalog.7.html

Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Roger Borne KIA 20 april 1945. Trained at 39 SFTS Bertrand H Allied and Soviet Air Forces 0 20th April 2010 09:39
VVS RKKA over Poland IX - X 1939? Mirek Wawrzynski Allied and Soviet Air Forces 8 15th March 2008 10:54
Hurricanes in USSR Carl-Fredrik Geust Allied and Soviet Air Forces 10 18th August 2007 21:37
VVS Order of Battle 22 June 1941 New Information konev2006 Allied and Soviet Air Forces 6 21st June 2007 19:37
Luftwaffe rank equivalents USAAF and VVS Csaba B. Stenge Allied and Soviet Air Forces 4 5th May 2006 18:11


All times are GMT +2. The time now is 16:26.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004 - 2018, 12oclockhigh.net