As the field-gray masses of German Wehrmacht surged across the Soviet border, over four hundred attack aircraft from Luftflotte 4 darted towards the Soviet side overhead. In the period of two hours, the first wave of German aircraft hit twenty-four airfields belonging to Kiev Special Military District.
Even though the total aircraft count of Luftflotte 4 barely reached eight hundred machines, they qualitatively outclassed the 1,939 aircraft in Kirponos’ command. The seventeen Soviet fighter regiments numbered 1,296 planes, including 243 new ones. These new models were mainly grouped in the 45th Fighter Division, while the other units had just one or two new aircraft for training. While most of the pilots assigned to the new aircraft had around four hours of flight time on their new machines, a majority of Soviet pilots were well trained on the older I-16 and I-153 fighters.
Bomber aviation of Kiev Special Military District was composed of eleven short-range bomber regiments totaling 349 planes, including 50 new ones. There were also two regiments of ground attack aircraft of older I-153 and I-15 planes. In the reserve of Kiev Special Military District’s commander were two fighter regiments, four short range bomber regiments, and two reconnaissance regiments. An additional thirteen combat squadrons and one medical evacuation squadron were assigned directly to covering armies, but most of them were extremely under strength and underequipped and not combat ready.[17]
Even though commander of the air force of Kiev Special Military District, Lt. Gen. E. S. Ptukhin, was more diligent than his counterparts in the other districts about dispersing and camouflaging aircraft, losses were significant. A majority of forward airfields in Kiev Special Military District were dirt strips, often rendered inoperable after rains. There were not enough of reserve airfields. In the spring of 1941, construction battalions began working on improving the existing airfields. However, by the time the war started, not a single airfield had finished its upgrades. Moreover, many of them, due to construction in progress, were rendered even less operable. This caused the aircraft to be bunched up on their airfields without adequate air defense artillery.[18]
Along with orders on June 19 about building field command posts, western border districts received instructions about dispersing and camouflaging aircraft. In addition to this directive, General Ptukhin demanded that aircraft shelters be built at every airfield. However, he neither allotted funds nor resources for this endeavor. And, anyway, there was no time.
Since there weren’t sufficient airfields on which to disperse the aircraft, a majority of commanders limited their efforts to spreading the aircraft around the perimeter of their existing airfields, often in squadron formations. On many airfields, the Soviet aircraft lined up almost wingtip-to-wingtip, presenting mouth-watering targets for German fliers. During the first day of war, air force units of Kiev Special Military District lost 301 aircraft.[19] According to various sources, between 174 and 277 of them were destroyed or damaged on the ground. Total losses amounted to roughly 16 percent of available aircraft, a serious but not fatal blow.[20] Success achieved by the German Air Force over its Soviet counterpart resulted not in one devastating opening blow, but in the systematic reduction of Soviet airfields and assets.
Lack of adequate housing near the airfields resulted in majority of Soviet pilots leaving on Saturdays to spend the weekends with their families in bigger towns and cities. Therefore, by attacking in the early Sunday morning, the Germans ensured that the overwhelming majority of Soviet pilots would be away from their aircraft. By the time Soviet aviators began trickling in to their units on June 22, their airfields were already undergoing second, third, or fourth attacks, and significant numbers of their aircraft were destroyed.
On the fateful morning of June 22, the 17th Fighter Regiment from 14th Mixed Air Division was based at Velitsk airfield, near Kovel. Twenty-year-old Lt. Fedor Arkhipenko was the duty officer at the airfield the night of the 21st–22nd. As was normal practice, a majority of married officers from the 17th Fighter Regiment was away from the airfield for the weekend with their families in Kovel. Only one pilot was on flight duty that night—Arkhipenko’s section leader, Senior Lieutenant Ibragimov with his I-153 plane. The previous evening was quiet, and Arkhipenko stopped by the officer’s club at the edge of the airfield to arrange a date with his girlfriend, a Polish girl named Yadviga, for the next day, Sunday, June 22.
Around 0325 hours, Arkhipenko was contemplating getting off duty shortly and catching up on his sleep. Shattering explosions brought him to a harsh reality as multiple German aircraft descended upon his airfield. Years later, Arkhipenko still remembered that German planes flew so low that he could see one gunner, whom he mistook for a woman because the German’s long hair was sticking out from under his helmet.[21] The bombing was heavy. Before there even was a chance to evaluate the damages from the first strike, the second arrived.
Arkhipenko’s unit could not oppose the German bombers: a majority of pilots were gone, and there was no air defense artillery at the airfield. As the flight and technical personnel began dribbling in, they began individual sorties by Soviet pilots. Before noon, the air base was bombed four times.
Years later, now a general, Arkhipenko wrote:
In reality, in this extremely difficult situation there was no leadership at the airfield. I, the duty officer Junior Lieutenant Fedor Arkhipenko, incompetently attempted to organize sporadic individual sorties and evacuate damaged planes. Communications were cut, there were no directions or orders; only the internal telephone lines, laid towards the squadron’s parking area, miraculously survived.[22]
Around 1100 hours another regiment of I-153s landed at his airfield, flying in from deeper in the district. Even though there were plenty of officers senior to Arkhipenko in the newly arrived regiment, none of them assisted him in running the airfield. Arkhipenko thought that they were from Zhitomir; however, since the only air regiment based directly in Zhitomir was the 315th Reconnaissance Regiment, this unit was most likely from the 44th Air Division in Vinnitsa-Uman area.
To Arkhipenko’s immense relief, deputy commander of the 14th Mixed Air Division, Maj. Gen. I. A. Lakeyev, arrived around 1300 hours. The experienced flier, veteran of wars in Spain and Finland, took over command of the airfield. Arkhipenko’s plane was still undamaged, and he requested Lakeyev to permit him to scramble. However, the general did not let him go—the junior lieutenant was the general’s whole staff. The regimental command post was now manned by a general, a junior lieutenant, and two privates from communications section.
When Germans attacked the airfield for the third time, a scratch flight of three Soviet fighters were taxiing on the runway. None of them made it into the air.
Around 1400 hours, 17th Fighter Regiment’s commander, Major Dervyanov, finally arrived, and Arkhipenko was allowed to leave the command post. [Why did it take regimental commander ten hours to get to his headquarters, less than twenty miles away from his residence in Kovel?] Arkhipenko’s plane was still intact, being camouflaged at the edge of the cemetery. He took off by himself, without waiting for orders. At the same time, a flight of fighters from Vinnitsa Regiment was also taking off, and they almost collided in midair. Arkihpenko tucked in behind them. This demonstrates that despite the presence of at least one regimental commander and a general at the airfield, flight operations were still not organized or monitored.