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Soviet 404th Fighter Aviation Regiment
at Novorossiya-1 and Ozernaya Pad airfields
between 1965 and 1968.
From the mid-1960s onward, the Sino-Soviet alliance continued to fracture. Consequently, a initially gradual rearmament program commenced in the Soviet Far East from the mid-sixties, the first step of which was the reactivation of the 404th Fighter Aviation Regiment.
In 1965, the 404th Fighter Aviation Regiment was reactivated at the Novorossiya-1 airfield. The command cadre came mostly from the local 18th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, while the rest were fresh academy-graduate pilots and technicians
That year, 32 pilot graduates arrived at the Novorossiya-1 airfield from the Kharkov Higher Military Aviation College of Pilots. All of them held an unrated pilot status, they only flown MiG-17 ‘Fresco-A’ and MiG-15UTI ‘Midget’ aircraft types. An intensive flight training program commenced. The novice pilots were trained by squadron leaders who were veterans of the Korean War. Within three years, many of them achieved First-Class Pilot proficiency ratings on the MiG-17 type. Following the retirement of regiment's the Korean War veterans, these young pilots became eligible to hold both squadron-level commands and positions within the regimental staff from 1969 onward.
During the 1950s, the 404th Fighter Aviation Regiment operated MiG-15 ‘Fagot’ and MiG-17 ‘Fresco’ fighters, and supersonic MiG-19 ‘Farmer’ interceptor aircraft too, and employed MiG-15UTI ‘Midget’ tandem-seat trainers. From 1965 onward, only the MiG-17 and MiG-15UTI types remained in service. Photos: Sergey Oreskin collection
The maintenance personnel were also recent graduates. Consequently, a tight-knit bond formed between the pilots and technicians within the regiment; pubs, vodka, and everything else—all was shared. They never locked their quarters; anyone could enter at any time and bring whomever they pleased. There was a strong sense of mutual support; after all, more than 50 younger bachelors were confined together in this remote taiga garrison.
The plan called for redeploying the newly formed 404th Fighter Aviation Regiment from the Primorsky Krai region to the northern Amur region near the Chinese border, where Frontline Aviation lacked both aviation units and airfields. However, airfield construction in the underdeveloped northern territories lagged far behind schedule. The new Vozzhayevka airfield was only constructed between 1966 and 1968. In 1967, the new 293rd Independent Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment moved there with MiG-21R 'Fishbed-H' aircraft, as gathering intelligence across the Chinese border was the top priority at the time.
For the same reason, the 404th Fighter Aviation Regiment could not remain at Novorossiya-1 either; that base was needed to expand the local 240th Independent Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron into a full regiment equipped with Il-28 'Beagle's. Due to this space shortage, the 404th regiment temporarily relocated to the Ozernaya Pad (Kremovo) airfield in 1967, which it co-shared with the local 224th Fighter Aviation Regiment.
In the end of sixties the 404th regiment flew very early-model MiG-17 'Fresco-A's, the 224th regiment operated MiG-21PF/PFM 'Fishbed-D/F' variants at the Ozernaya Pad (Kremovo) airfield. The base was heavily overcrowded, and cooperation between the two regiments was not without friction.
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Tags:
Soviet Union, USSR, Soviet Air Forces, VVS, Cold War, Soviet Far Eastern Military District, 1st Tactical Air Army 1968, 1st Special Tactical Air Army 1968, 404th Fighter Air Regiment, Ozernaya Pad, 404th Fighter Aviation Regiment, MiG-17 Fresco, Mikoyan and Gurevich, Sukhoi, Mil, Yakovlev, Sino-Soviet border conflict, Zhenbao (Damansky) Island,
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Союз Советских Социалистических Республик, СССР, Военно-воздушные силы, Холодная война, ДальВО, Дальневосточный ВО, Дальневосточный военный округ, 1-й ВА ДВО, ОДВА, ВВС ОДВА, 1-я воздушная армия, 1-я ВА, 404-й истребительный авиационный ордена Кутузова III степени Таллинский полк, 404-й ИАП, Озерная Падь, Кремово, МиГ-17, Микоян и Гуревич, Сухой, Мил, Яковлев, Пограничный конфликт на острове Даманском, Советско-китайский раскол