The Soviet 166th Guard Air Defence Fighter Air Regiment's life in the seventies.

The Khrushchev reforms reduced armed forces and pilot training in the early sixties. Due to reforms and the deterioration of Chinese-Soviet relations, there was a serious crew shortage in the early seventies. The 166th Guard Fighter Air Regiment PVO of the Baku Red Banner Air Defense District was in a difficult situation. In 1971, when the new Su-15 ‘Flagon’ type arrived, there were not enough pilots (only two squadrons) who compatible with high-speed flight.

Between 1970 and 1972 the crew of the 166th Guard Fighter Air Regiment PVO moved the 148th Air Defence Training Center at the Savasleyka airport for Su-15 retraining. The new Su-15 ‘Flagon’ interceptors arrived in 1971 to Marneuli, Sandar airport. The 166th regiment’s pilots only used the MiG-15UTI ‘Midget’ and the Su-7U ‘Moujik’ for the training role.
 

Andrei Grechko Soviet Minister of Defence at Marneuli, Sandar airport

Due to the pilot's shortage, the regiment’s third squadron received junior high school qualifications DOSAAF pilots in 1973. The young pilots were intensively trained between spring and autumn on MiG-17. They flew 10-12 hours a month on MiG-17 ‘Fresco’, and from October they started retraining for Su-15 ‘Flagon’ at Marneuli, Sandar airport. The young, inexperienced pilots could learn on Su-15UT ‘Flagon-C’ two-seater type from 1972. At the end of 1973, they flew over to the 18th Air Defense Training Center at Krasnovodsk airport. Here they were shooting PM-6 paratrooper target with an R-98 'AA-3 Anab' medium-range air-to-air missile. After that, they were ready to give scramble alarm at Marneuli, Sandar airport.

By 1974, all pilots of 166 regiment were retrained to Su-15 ‘Flagon’ aircraft. In 1975, the young pilots of the 3rd Squadron became the second-class pilot, then in 1976, they became the first-class pilot. Every year, the pilots did shooting practice at the 116th or 18th Air Defense Training Center. They were shooting with a gun on a land target at the Poil shooting range, 45 km south of Marneuli. In the mid-1970s, the Su-15 was equipped already with two R-60 ‘AA-8 Aphid’ short-range lightweight infrared homing air-to-air missile rockets too. A complex aerobatic flight was forbidden with a totally armed Su-15 (Two R-98, two R-60 missiles and a gun container) until 1980, due to the possible deformation of the aircraft's fuselage.

  166th Guard regiment’s Su-15 ‘Flagon’ with APU-60-I Pylons

Between 1970 and 1979 the regiment lost only two Su-15 'Flagon' aircraft. The first loss was one Su-15 fighter, which crashed during takeoff from Marneuli airport. Fortunately, the pilot survived. The other incident occurred after the aircraft of the regiment moved to the airport of the 116th Air Defense Training Center. During shooting exercise, the Su-15 crashed due to technical problems. The pilot ejected safely. Both Su-15 'Flagon' fighters were lost due to untrained technical crew.

Sources: Jurii Lopatin, Sergei Vaulin, Valera Mamedov, Vasiliev Vladimir Mitrofanovich, Galinda Zhukova collections