page_title: 5th Air Army
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: 5th Air Army / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: “IL-2 attacking”.. Soviet IL-2 combat aircraft attack an enemy formation. The Kursk Bulge (Operation Citadel), The Voronezh Front, Russia. Deutsch: “IL-2 Angriff”.. Sowjetische Iljuschin-Il-2-Schlachtflugzeuge greifen deutsche Bodentruppen an. Schlacht um Kursk (Unternehmen Zitadelle), Woronescher Front. Русский: «ИЛ-2 атакует». Советские летчики на самолетах ИЛ-2 атакуют колонну противника. Курская дуга. Воронежский фронт. Россия, Курск, Курская область
context_page_description: The 5th Air Army was an air army of the Soviet Air Forces and later the Ukrainian Air Force. First formed in 1942 during World War II, the army provided air support to Soviet forces through the rest of the war, and was renumbered as the 48th Air Army in 1949. It was stationed in the Odessa Military District during the postwar period, and in 1968 its original number was restored. Between 1980 and 1988 it was known as the Air Forces of the Odessa Military District. Redesignated as the 5th Air Army again in 1988, it became part of the Ukrainian Air Force after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and was converted into an aviation corps in 1994.
context_section_description: The 5th Air Army (5 Vozdushnaya Armiya) was first created during the World War II, formed from the Air Forces of the North Caucasus Front on 6 June 1942 in accordance with an order dated 3 June, consisting of the 236th, 237th, and 265th Fighter Aviation Divisions (IAD), the 238th Assault Aviation Division (ShAD), the 132nd Bomber Aviation Division (BAD), and two separate regiments. It was commanded by Major General Sergei Goryunov, who led it for the entire war. From July to December, the air army provided support for the Soviet defense of the North Caucasus. On 5 September, it became part of the Transcaucasian Front, but was transferred to the North Caucasus Front on 4 February 1943. In April 1943, alongside the 4th Air Army and the aviation of the Black Sea Fleet, it fought in battles for air superiority in the Kuban.
  On 24 April, the army was withdrawn to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command and relocated to the Steppe Military District, which became part of the Steppe Front on 9 July. During the Battle of Kursk in July and August 1943 it fought as part of the front, and comprised the 7th Mixed Aviation Corps, 8th Mixed Aviation Corps, 3rd Fighter Aviation Corps, and the 7th Fighter Aviation Corps (IAK), numbering around 563 aircraft. On 1 August it comprised the 1st Bomber Aviation Corps (1st Guards, 293rd Bomber Aviation Division), 1st Assault Aviation Corps (203rd, 266th Fighter Aviation Divisions, 292nd Assault Aviation Division), 3rd Fighter Aviation Corps (265th, 278th Fighter Aviation Divisions), 4th Fighter Aviation Corps (294th and 302nd Fighter Aviation Divisions), 7th Fighter Aviation Corps (304th Fighter Aviation Division), and the 511th Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment. From August, the army fought in the Belgorod-Khar'kov Offensive Operation and then the Battle of the Dnieper. On 20 October, the front became the 2nd Ukrainian Front.
  During 1944, the army fought in the Kirovograd Offensive, the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky Offensive, the Jassy–Kishinev Offensive, the Belgrade Offensive, and the Budapest Offensive, the last of which extended until February 1945. In 1945, the army fought in the Vienna Offensive and the Prague Offensive. The 5th Air Army flew about 180,000 sorties during the war.
caption: Ilyushin Il-2 ground attack aircraft, 1943, of the type used by assault units in the army
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