Question: Siege of Odessa: until which date were daylight missions flown by the red airforce?

[kraut1]

For my first release of the EMG Mod I want to add a frontline when Odessa was surrounded.

Maps of frontlines are not the problem, there plenty of them in the internet.

But how long was the Red Airforce able to fly daylight fighter, attack or bomber missions from the Odessa airfields?

 

here the first 3 "semi historical frontlines":

 

 

Many thanks in advance!

Edited June 6 by kraut1

[357th_KW]

Black Cross/Red Star vol 1 states that the last air combat over Odessa took place on October 18th 1941 when Romanian fighters shot down two MBR-2 flying boats.  It also states that 69 IAP (the primary I-16 unit defending Odessa) scored it's last victory on October 14th.

[kraut1]

7 hours ago, 357th_KW said:

Black Cross/Red Star vol 1 states that the last air combat over Odessa took place on October 18th 1941 when Romanian fighters shot down two MBR-2 flying boats.  It also states that 69 IAP (the primary I-16 unit defending Odessa) scored it's last victory on October 14th.

Edited: I am adding what I found, see end of this post!

Thanks very much for your answer!🙂

If you find the time maybe you could provide me with some further rough informations (not detailed, I don't want create to much work for you.

 

1.) from which airfield 69 IAP flew and is this airfield on the IL-2 Odessa map?

 

2.) time after incirclement ca.15th August to begin of the major offensive at 28th August the russian held area was comparable big:

maybe some few examples of airfields in use / plane types?

 

3.) for time between 01st Sept. to 14th Oct maybe some examples of other plane types / airfields?

 

If no airfield information available no problem, most importent are some examples of plane types used in the Odessa area.

 

 

Some examples of german maps (from a russian / german history project):

https://wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/de/nodes/13051-findbuch-12457-karten-zur-lage-ost-der-operationsabteilung-iiib-des-generalstab-des-heeres-beim-okh-1941-1945

-time after incirclement ca.15th August to begin of the major offensive at 28th August:

 

-during the offensive the russian held area was for short time very small:

 

-After counter attack bigger again for some time a bit bigger 05th Sept. - 15th Sept.

-After 16th Sept:

...to 15th Oct.:

 

Added later:

I-16:

https://airpages.ru/eng/ru/i16bp.shtml

German and Romanian aviation in the southern sector was opposed by the Air Force of the Odessa Military District and the Air Force of the Black Sea Fleet. The fighters of the 20th and 21st mixed air divisions were engaged in direct cover of the border. Almost 300 I-16s of these divisions were the basis of the fighter aviation of the Odessa Military District. The pilots of the 21st SAD on the first day of the war shot down more than 20 enemy aircraft, after a month of fighting, the division had 150 victories. By this time, when the offensive of the Romanian troops was stopped on the outskirts of the city of Odessa, the 69th IAP from the 21st SAD became the main force holding back enemy aircraft on the southern sector of the front. 69 IAP, having 70 I-16s and 5 MiG-3s on June 22, 1941, during the three months of the defense of Odessa, not only defended the city, but also carried out numerous sorties to counter the enemy offensive. Only in air battles, the pilots of the 69th IAP shot down 94 German and Romanian aircraft during this period. The regiment commander, Lev Shestakov, mastered the I-16 back in 1936. In 1937, he fought in Spain, where he made 150 sorties, conducted 90 air battles, had 39 air victories, 8 of them personally and 31 in a group. In the sky near Odessa, he shot down 3 more planes personally and 8 in the group. Before his death on March 13, 1944, Lev Shestakov had 23 personal victories and 44 in the group.

 

Added later:

I-153:

https://airpages.ru/eng/ru/i153bp.shtml

 

...Air Force of the Odessa Military District - 143 units as part of the 4th and 55th IAP....

 

Added later:

Lagg-3:

https://airpages.ru/eng/ru/lagbp.shtml

Naval aviation before the war did not have time to receive LaGG-3. Only in August 1941 was the 62nd IAP of the Black Sea Fleet Air Force formed, staffed mainly by instructors and graduate cadets of the Yeisk Aviation School (commander - Colonel I.V. Sharapov). The 62nd IAP included one LaGG-3 squadron, which since September participated in defensive battles in the Crimea.

 

Added later:

Mig-3:

https://airpages.ru/eng/ru/mig3bp.shtml

...

As of June 1, there were 4,727 fighters in five western districts, including 77 MiG-1s (55 serviceable) and 845 MiG-3s (786 serviceable)....- with the MiG-3, in Odessa VO - 8 MiG-1 and 181 MiG-3.

...In the Odessa Military District, according to various sources, there were from 697 to 611 fighters of various types. On June 1, the district had eight MiG-1s and 181 MiG-3s....

...

1st day of war:

Aviation of the Odessa Military District suffered even fewer losses, while acting more efficiently. Here, the enemy of the Soviet pilots were not only the Germans, but also the Romanians.

For MiG-3s from the 20th SAD, the war began at 5:10. The pilot from the 4th IAP, Afanasy Karmanov, was performing a scheduled flight, taking off from the field airfield, where the regiment was trained, and heading for Chisinau. ...... Other pilots of the 4th IAP managed to shoot down 20 German and Romanian aircraft in battles over Grigoriopol, Tiraspol and Chisinau.

The 55th IAP, led by Major Ivanov, began the war by taking off from the Mayaki airfield. By the beginning of the war, the main base of the regiment in Balti was undergoing reconstruction. A concrete runway was being built there, so since April the regiment's squadrons have been at field airfields. Only the understaffed 1st squadron of Captain F. Atrashkevich remained at the base. Link Lieutenant A.I. Pokryshkin was in Grigoriopol, and Figichev's link was at the very border near Ungen. There was also a link of Atrashkevich himself. The commander of the third link, K. Selivestrov, was in Chisinau. .....

On the first day of the war, the future Soviet ace shot down a Su-2 from the 210th BBAP by mistake at 16:30. It is sometimes said that the Su-2 from the 211th BBAP became the victim of Pokryshkin, but this regiment entered the battle only in the evening of that day and suffered no losses.

Until the end of the day, the 55th IAP claimed 10 victories. F. Atrashkevich is sometimes credited with the victory over Wolfgang Schellman (Bf 109), although he, according to official data, died in the Grodno region, being shot down by I-153. Losses of the 55th IAP amounted to three aircraft. In the Beltsy region, Ovchinnikov and Surov were shot down, and Mironov died making an emergency landing on a plane with a stopped engine.

The 69th IAP from Odessa, which had five MiGs, suffered no losses on the first day of the war. In turn, the regiment claimed three victories in the Chisinau area. Perhaps among the successful pilots were those who flew MiGs.

...

 

 

 

Edited June 7 by kraut1