3rd Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment

The regiment was formed on June 10, 1938 in accordance with the order of the NPO of the USSR No. 0017 of May 21, 1938 at the Borovskoye airfield near Pochinok as the 3rd separate heavy bomber aviation regiment. The basis for the formation of the regiment was the aviation part of the 47th Special Purpose Aviation Brigade, formed in 1936, which included aviation and airborne units ( 214th airborne brigade was formed on the basis of the airborne divisions of the brigade ). After its formation, the regiment was armed with four squadrons of TB-3 aircraft.

Two crews from the regiment took part in the conflict on Khalkhin Gol . In 1939, the regiment was involved in the annexation of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine, performing 342 sorties. Since December 11, 1939 he took part in the Winter War , completing 318 combat and 78 transport flights. In 1940, the regiment took part in the annexation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina , performing 327 sorties. During this operation, airplanes, including the 3rd Aviation Regiment, delivered (by parachute and landing method) paratroopers from the 240th and 201st Airborne Brigades.

By the beginning of the war, 41 TB-3 aircraft were available, of which five were faulty.

As part of the army during the Second World War from June 22, 1941 to March 5, 1942, from March 20, 1942 to March 30, 1942 as the 3rd heavy bomber aviation regiment and from March 31, 1942 to September 18, 1943 as the 3rd bomber aviation regiment long range.

From January 1942 to June 1942, the forces of the regiment provided activities behind enemy lines of the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps . Also, the crews of the regiment took part in the landing during the Vyazemsky landing operation and the further supply of the landing. As part of this activity, the forces of the regiment provided the supply of a group of Soviet troops with ammunition, fuel, food, medicine, and wounded were transported.

In July-August 1942 it operates mainly on the railway junctions Bryansk, Karachev , Orel , Kursk , Kharkov , Rzhev . In early August 1942, all serviceable aircraft were relocated to the Nikiforovka airfield, from where they operated on the Stalingrad direction.

September 18, 1943 for military merit, the regiment was transformed into the 23rd Guards Long-Range Aviation Regiment

Until 1998, the successor to the regiment was the 239th guards separate helicopter regiment of the Russian Air Force.

• Colonel Filippov, Ivan Vasilievich (1938-1942)
• Colonel Chirskov, Boris Fedorovich (1942)

• List No.12 of the aviation regiments of the air forces of the Red Army, which were part of the field army during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
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