Soviet Volunteer Group

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I-16 with Chinese insignia. I-16 was the main fighter plane used by the Chinese Air Force and Soviet volunteers.

The Soviet Volunteer Group was the ostensibly volunteer Soviet air force to support the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War between 1937 and 1941. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was signed and large Soviet support was given to China by the Soviet Union, including the so-called volunteer squadrons. Of about 500 aircraft supplied, half were turned over to the Chinese Air Force and half were flown and maintained by personnel from the USSR. The Soviet air units were stationed at bases near the cities of Nanjing, Hankou, and Chongqing, and at Lanchou in China's northwest at the terminus of the Russian supply route. The Russian commander is identified in most histories as a General Asanov.^[1]

The squadrons were withdrawn in 1941 after the Non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Japan in 1941.