24th Air Army

The 24th Air Army was an Air army of the Soviet Air Forces, active from 1980, and probably inactivated in 1992. Its headquarters was located at Vinnitsa.

2nd Separate Heavy Bomber Aviation Corps was established in August 1960 at Vinnitsa from elements of HQ 43rd Air Army of the Long Range Aviation.

Organisation 1961:
 * 199th independent Guards Long-Range Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment (Nezhin, Chernigov Oblast) with Tu-16R
 * 13th Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Division (Poltava, Poltava Oblast)
 * 15th Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Division (Ozernoye, Zhitomir Oblast)
 * 106th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division (Uzin, Kiev Oblast)

Organisation 1978:
 * 199th independent Guards Long-Range Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment (Nezhin, Chernigov Oblast) with Tu-22R
 * 13th Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Division (Poltava, Poltava Oblast)
 * 15th Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Division (Ozernoye, Zhitomir Oblast)
 * 106th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division (Uzin, Kiev Oblast)

Redesignated 24th Air Army VGK 1 August 1980. The army was subordinated to the South-Western Strategic Direction.

The 138th Fighter Aviation Division joined the 24th Air Army VGK in 1980.

At the dissolution of the Soviet Union this Army had forces in Belarus and Ukraine. In Ukraine forces consisted of the 32nd Bomber Aviation Division, at Starokonstantinov, the 56th Bomber Aviation Division at Cherlyany, and the 138th Fighter Aviation Division at Mirgorod. In Ukraine in 1991-92, this Army had available over 140 Su-24 Fencer, over 35 Yak-28 electronic warfare aircraft, and 40 MiG-27 Floggers and 40 Su-27 Flankers for strike escort.

Organisation 1990:
 * 101st independent Communications Regiment (Vinnitsa, Vinnitsa Oblast)
 * 456th independent Guards Transport Aviation Regiment (Vinnitsa, Vinnitsa Oblast)
 * 118th independent Aviation Regiment for Electronic Warfare (Chortkov, Ternopol Oblast)
 * 511th independent Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment (Buyalyk, near Odessa, Odessa Oblast)
 * 32nd Bomber Aviation Division (Starokonstantinov, Khmelnitskiy Oblast)
 * 7th Bomber Aviation Regiment (Starokonstantinov, Khmelnitskiy Oblast) with Su-24
 * 727th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment (Kanatovo, Kirovobad Oblast) with Su-24
 * 953rd Bomber Aviation Regiment (Bobrovichi, Gomel Oblast) with Su-24
 * 56th Bomber Aviation Division (Cherlyany, Lvov Oblast)
 * 230th Bomber Aviation Regiment (Cherlyany, Lvov Oblast) with Su-24
 * 314th Bomber Aviation Regiment (Cherlyany, Lvov Oblast) with Su-24 (Holm states that this regiment was disbanded in 1988; Feskov et al. lists it in 1988)
 * 947th Bomber Aviation Regiment (Dubna, Rovno Oblast) with Su-24
 * 138th Fighter Aviation Division (Mirgorod, Poltava Oblast)
 * 168th Fighter Aviation Regiment (Starokonstantinov, Khmelnitskiy Oblast) with MiG-23
 * 831st Fighter Aviation Regiment (Mirgorod, Poltava Oblast) with Su-27

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union the army appears to have been inactivated. The city of Vinnitsa later became the headquarters of the Ukrainian Air Force.