The 76th Air Army was a unit of the Soviet Air Forces from 1949–1980, and again from 1988–98. As the 13th Air Army, it was originally formed on 25 November 1942 and based on air units of the Leningrad Front. 13th Air Army's initial components were the 275th Fighter Aviation Division, 276th Bomber Aviation Division, and 277th Assault Aviation Divisions. As the 13th Air Army, the formation participated in a number of offensives in 1943–45:
Operation Iskra - 12–30 January 1943. 13th Air Army supported the 67th Army's attack.
Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive - 13th Air Army, 1,600 aircraft strong, made an attack on the German positions on 9 June 1944, a day before the main assault. Glantz also states that 13th Air Army provided pre-offensive fighter cover to discourage enemy aerial reconnaissance which might have uncovered the offensive's maskirovka measures. The offensive lasted from 10 June to 9 August 1944.
During the war, the 13th Air Army made 120,000 sorties. Ten units of the army were transformed into Guards units for their services. Twenty units were awarded decorations. 151 pilots were awarded the Heroes of the Soviet Union, and one, Pyotr Pokryshev won the award twice. The 13th Air Army had but one commander throughout World War II. Stepan Dmitrievich Rybalchenko appears initially to have been a General-Major upon his appointment as commander. He was promoted to General-Lieutenant с 07.08.43, and General-Colonel с 02.11.44.
13th Air Army components during World War II
Allaces.ru gives the following composition of the Air Army:
277th Assault Krasnoselskaya Krasnoznamennaya Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Air Division
281st Assault Novgorod Red Banner Air Division - activated August 1942 from the VVS/4th Army, assigned to 13th Air Army April 1944. In May 1945, in the Lithuanian SSR, the division comprised three assault aviation regiments of Il-2s: the 448, 703rd, and 872nd. Redesignated the 281st Military Transport Aviation Division on 27 April 1946, and resubordinated to Headquarters Airborne Forces
269th Fighter Air Division Novgorod Krasnoznamennaya
13th Separate Reconnaissance Leningrad Red Aviation Regiment
In July 1945, three Aviation Divisions joined 13th Air Army in the Leningrad Military District from 1st Air Army:
276th Bomber Aviation Division
277th Assault Aviation Division
330th Fighter Aviation Division. 330th 'Ostravskaya' IAD was part of 13th and 76th Air Armies in 7.1945 – 1.1949, and January 1949 – 3.1952.
In January 1949, 13th Air Army was redesignated as the 76th Air Army. In 1988, according to Feskov et al., the 76th Air Army comprised the 67th Bomber Aviation Regiment, the 66th and 722nd Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiments, 98th Guards Independent Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment, and the 138th Composite Aviation Regiment. The 66th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment transferred to the Baltic Fleet as the 66th independent Maritime Assault Aviation Regiment in December 1989. 149th Bomber Aviation Division arrived back from Szprotawa, Poland in July 1992 to supervise the 67th, 98th Guards, and 722nd Regiments, but was disbanded in 1998. The Air Army was disbanded on June 1, 1998, when it was merged with the 6th Independent Air Defence Army of the now-Russian Air Defence Forces, also headquartered in Sankt Petersburg, to form the 6th Army of Air Forces and Air Defence.
