The 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment (IAP) was formed between 10 May and 15 July 1941 at Klin as part of the Air Forces (VVS) of the Moscow Military District.

[2] On 16 July, after completing its formation, the regiment joined the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps (IAK) of the Moscow Air Defense Zone and began combat operations in World War II, following the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, on 22 June, and the subsequent German advance towards Moscow.

Samsonov claimed the regiment's first known victory on 26 July, a Junkers Ju 88 bomber in the vicinity of Lenino station.

From 21 September to 1 November, a group of 20 MiG-3s from the regiment fought on the front, operationally subordinated to the 106th Fighter Aviation Division (IAD) of the Bologoye Air Defense Region.

The 50th was part of the first rotation of Soviet aviation units of the corps, and had its red stars replaced by Korean People's Army Air Force roundels.

On 10 January, a lone Boeing RB-29 Superfortress reconnaissance aircraft was intercepted and reported to have been downed in the Anju area by pilots from the 1st Squadron under Major Pavel Mikhailov, the only enemy aircraft encountered in early January; no RB-29 was recorded as lost by the USAF on that date.

[22] Six pilots from the 2nd Squadron led by Fomin reported an engagement with four Republic F-84 Thunderjet fighter-bombers over Kaesong Station in the Anju area on 20 January, and claimed to have shot down one.

In January, the 177th reported that it had downed eleven aircraft, including one RB-29, three F-80s, and seven F-84s, at the cost of three MiGs damaged in 200 individual sorties and five group combats.

On 3 February, on a patrol by 10 MiGs from the 1st Squadron under Mikhailov, two F-80s were reported by pilots to have been shot down north of Sinuiju; these claims were uncorroborated by the USAF.

Turning its aircraft over to the replacement 151st Guards Fighter Aviation Division, the regiment moved back to Anshan before leaving for the Soviet Union within several days.

[26] During its combat tour, the IAP flew over 400 sorties, conducted 13 air battles, and was credited with downing 24 UN aircraft, including one bomber, fifteen fighter-bombers, and eight fighters, as well as three probables.

[3] On 3 March 1951, the 177th arrived in Leningrad Oblast from China with the division and became part of the 50th Fighter Aviation Army, stationed at Levashovo.

In 1960, the regiment relocated to Lodeynoye Pole, receiving new Sukhoi Su-9 interceptors to provide air defense for Leningrad against NATO aircraft.

[27] On 25 December 2002, the regiment received the honorific "Moscow" in honor of its air defense of the capital during World War II.

[28] On 15 September 2005, 177th IAP deputy squadron commander Major Valery Troyanov crashed his Su-27 into a field in western Lithuania while flying to Kaliningrad Oblast for a training exercise alongside six fighters, beginning an international incident.

[29] Troyanov had lost contact with the other aircraft and Russian ground control, straying 200 kilometers (120 mi) from the planned route into Lithuanian airspace and remaining there for 20 minutes.

The aircraft was briefly picked up and lost multiple times by obsolete Lithuanian radar, and two German Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIs, based in Lithuania as part of NATO's Baltic Air Policing deployment, sortied to intercept it.

[31] A warehouse fire sparked by a cigarette butt at Lodeynoye Pole destroyed a hundred air-to-air missiles belonging to the regiment in May 2008, resulting in damage worth 766.3 million rubles.