The regiment traced its heritage back to the 181st Fighter Aviation Regiment, which began forming just before the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The regiment flew the Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3 and the Lavochkin La-5 fighters during the war and in mid-1944 was converted into the 180th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. Postwar, the regiment became an interceptor-equipped air defence unit, and during the Korean War it trained People's Liberation Army Air Force pilots while stationed in China. In 1952 it was moved west to Leningrad Oblast, and from 1953 to its 2002 disbandment the 180th Guards served as an air defence unit based at Gromovo.