AERO 113 Prvn, sthac, Zvolensk 1962-1970, 3.dl Irra Miroslav (2024)

The 1960s were significant for the 1st Fighter Regiment chiefly because it began transitioning to a new generation of fighter aircraft from the MiG design bureau, in this case the MiG-21 and its versions. Throughout 19621970, the regiment was part of the 3rd Air Defense Division, known from 1969 as the 3rd Air Defense Division of the State Air Defense Forces. In spring 1968, its personnel supported the reform movement in Czechoslovak society, which was violently halted by the invasion of the Warsaw Pact states led by the Soviet Union. Among other consequences, this brought personnel purges carried out through screening procedures in 1970, after which at least 60 regiment members, evidently most of them for political reasons, were transferred to the reserves. Under the emerging period of so-called normalization, the regiment continued its combat training and airspace protection duties.