It was formed May 16, 1942, in accordance with a People's Commissariat for Defence order of 5 May 1942 on the basis of the Air Forces of the Kalinin Front.
In February 1943 a number of its formations supported the troops of the North-Western Front in the liquidation of the Demyansk pocket.
In February 1945, near Koenigsberg, it came under the operational command of the 1st Air Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front and participated in the East Prussian Offensive.
On 5 May 1945, it was transferred to the operational command of the Leningrad Front and with 15th Air Army took part in the blockade of German forces in the Courland Peninsula.
[citation needed] Thousands of its soldiers were awarded orders and medals, many of the pilots and navigators the title Hero of the Soviet Union and Ivan Pavlov and Aleksey Smirnov won the title twice.