Baherove Air Base ( uk, Багерове авіабаза, russian: Багерово авиабаза; also transliterated as Bagarovo or Bagerovo) is an air base in

Baherove Baherove ( crh, Bagerovo, russian: Багерово, uk, Багерове) is an urban-type settlement in Lenine Raion of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a territory recognized by a majority of countries as part of Ukraine and annexed by Russia ...

, Crimea. Located 3 km northwest of the village Baherove, 14 km northwest of town of Kerch. Airfield Baherove is "out-of-class" airport, which can accommodate aircraft of all types. From 1996 the airfield is not in use (abandoned).

History

Baherove Air Base was the 71st training ground Air Force ("Polygon") that was established in the Crimean village of Baherove in accordance with the Resolution of the " Council of Ministers of USSR" on August 21, 1947 with the aim of aviation security for air

nuclear testing Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected by ...

and

refinement Refinement may refer to: Mathematics * Equilibrium refinement, the identification of actualized equilibria in game theory * Refinement of an equivalence relation, in mathematics ** Refinement (topology), the refinement of an open cover in mathem ...

of technical means of delivering nuclear warheads, which are mainly at the time could only be used by aviation. The first atomic charges were designed for

aerial bomb An aerial bomb is a type of explosive or incendiary weapon intended to travel through the air on a predictable trajectory. Engineers usually develop such bombs to be dropped from an aircraft. The use of aerial bombs is termed aerial bombing. ...

s with overall weight and dimensions characteristics allowing their use with long-range bomber Tu-4. For takeoff and landing of heavy bombers a runway was built in Baherove Air Base with width of 100 meters (328 feet) and a length of . The runway was made from strong concrete and is still in excellent condition today. The airfield was one of the most capable of the three airstrips in USSR, which was built for the space shuttle Buran. In 1973, a branch of the

Voroshilovgrad Higher Military Aviation School of Navigators The Voroshilovgrad Higher Military Aviation School of Navigators was a flying training school of the Soviet Air Forces and later the Ukrainian Air Force. Established in 1966 in Voroshilovgrad (Lugansk), the school trained navigators until its closu ...

was opened at the airfield, which trained personnel for front-line and Army Aviation, including navigators. On March 30, 1977, the 228th Training Aviation Regiment of the Voroshilovgrad School was formed at the airfield (military unit 25570). The regiment was equipped with

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, De ...

fighters (1st and 2nd aviation squadrons) and L-29 training aircraft of Czechoslovak production (3rd squadron). The sea area of the former 71st range was used for training tasks in the training of anti-submarine aviation navigators (training for dropping sonar buoys from aircraft Be-12). In the late 1980s, the runway was overhauled with the creation of a surface layer of standard PAG-18 airfield concrete slabs. On January 11, 1992, the branch, together with the school, was transferred to the

Ukrainian Air Force The Ukrainian Air Force ( uk, Пові́тряні си́ли Збро́йних сил Украї́ни) is the air force of Ukraine and one of the five branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Its headquarters are in the city of Vinnytsia. Wh ...

, and in 1996 it ceased to exist. The

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

fell into neglect with the entire

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

. After Russia's annexation of the peninsula in 2014, the facilities of the military air base were dismantled by Russian authorities in 2016 and the air base now has ceased to exist with just two taxiways remaining partially intact.

References

External links

Unofficial home page
{{authority control Airports in Crimea Airports built in the Soviet Union Ukrainian airbases Military facilities in Crimea Soviet Air Force bases Lenine Raion