17th Air Army


The 17th Air Army was an Air army of the Red Air Force and Soviet Air Forces from 1942.

World War II

It was formed in October 1942 on the basis of the Air Forces of the Southwestern Front. Bonn et al. say that it included a mixed air corps, two fighter, one ground-attack, one bomber, and one night bomber division.
It immediately took part in the Battle of Stalingrad. On 19 November 1942 during the battle of Stalingrad it was under the command of General Major Stepan Krasovsky.
On 1 April 1943, as part of the Southwestern Front, it comprised the
From March 1943 until the end of the war Vladimir Sudets commanded the 17th Air Army.

From 1943-45 it participated in the Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive, Left and Right Bank Ukraine operations, and the capture of Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Austria.

Over 200,000 sorties were flown.

Post War Reorganization

On 1 May 1945 the army consisted of
The 39th Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment was transferred to Samarkand and the 6th Air Army in 1947.
Air Force Colonel General Sergey Goryunov was commander of 17th Air Army between 1946 and 1949.
In February 1949 it was redesignated the 69th Air Army.

In April 1964 the 69th Air Army became the Air Forces of the Kiev Military District.

In April 1968 the Air Forces of the Kiev Military District became the 69th Air Army once more.

In April 1972 the 69th Air Army was redesignated the 17th Air Army.

In June 1980 the 17th Air Army became the Air Forces of the Kiev Military District.

In May 1988 the Air Forces of the Kiev Military District became the 17th Air Army.
In 1992 the air army became part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; by 1996 it appears to have been dissolved.

Order of battle 1970

Organisation 1970:
April 1972 renamed 17th Air Army.
The 138th Fighter Aviation Division joined the 24th Air Army VGK in 1980.

Order of battle late 1980s

In the late 1980s its headquarters was at Kiev. This order of battle is a composite; aircraft numbers are from Vad777 and virtually all other information is from Michael Holm, with some material from Feskov et al.
Lugansk Higher Military Aviation School of Navigators
Kharkhov Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots
Chernigov Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots
The Chernigov School was disbanded 30.11.1995.