I thought I had invented 56th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment because Google
failed to find any mention of such a Regiment but I came across one website
that mentioned it briefly without many details.
http://www.ww2.dk/new/air%20force/regiment/iap/56gviap.htm
As it it also gave the name in Russian I tried Googling the Russian and came
across a nice Russian site which I then translated back to English using Google
Translate.
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fairaces.narod.ru%2Fall9%2Fchirva.htm
and
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/56-%D0%B9_%D0%B3%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B1%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BA
It seems it started as 520th IAP then because it did so well was renamed 56th
Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (56th GvIAP). I also see reference to 56th
Guards Altukhovskiy Red Banner Fighter Aviation Regiment which I believe
reflects the commander being awarded the Order Of The Red Banner.
"By the end of January 1943, operating at Stalingrad, the 520th IAP carried out
2,147 sorties with a total flight of 1,842 hours, during this period the
regiment conducted 125 air battles, shot down 95 enemy aircraft and destroyed
15 at aerodromes. For excellent performance of combat missions, the regiment
was transformed into the 56th Guards Fighter Aviation Altukhov Regiment. During
his stay at the Stalingrad-Don fronts, Major SNChirva managed to raise brave
and brave air fighters. The best became: Major DI Rodin, Chief Sergeant VF
Vinogradov (for 8 - 9 wins in the air), Captain AA Efremov, Lieutenant N. V.
Kharitonov (11-12 wins) and others.The commander of the regiment, Major S. SN
Chirvu, awarded the Order of the Red Banner and nominated the division
commander for the air division."
