Yagodnik,
Arkhangelsk Oblast, north west Russia, was the site of a World War II airfield. It is located near
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk (, ; rus, Арха́нгельск, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk), also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near ...
, on an island in the
Northern Dvina
The Northern Dvina (russian: Се́верная Двина́, ; kv, Вы́нва / Výnva) is a river in northern Russia flowing through the Vologda Oblast and Arkhangelsk Oblast into the Dvina Bay of the White Sea. Along with the Pechora River ...
river, 9 kilometres from the sea at Dvina Bay.
Operation Paravane
The airfield was used by the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
as a temporary base in September 1944 to launch
Operation ''Paravane'', a bombing raid against the
German battleship Tirpitz
''Tirpitz'' was the second of two s built for Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) prior to and during the Second World War. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Imperial German Navy, ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Impe ...
in
Kåfjord in northern
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
.
Thirty-eight
Avro Lancasters of
617
__NOTOC__
Year 617 ( DCXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 617 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...
and
9 Squadrons, two
Liberator transports and a weather reconnaissance
Mosquito
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
set off for Yagodnik on the night of 10 September 1944. Once there, poor visibility prevented many aircraft from finding Yagodnik airfield. Now short of fuel, some aircraft emergency landed at a small airfield on
Kergostrov Island where several of the bombers crash-landed: other aircraft were scattered across the region.
On 15 September, after repairs, 27
Avro Lancasters flew with
Barnes Wallis' 5-tonne
Tallboy bomb
Tallboy or Bomb, Medium Capacity, 12,000 lb was an earthquake bomb developed by the British aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis and used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War."Medium capacity" refers to the ratio of bomb ...
s and experimental 500-pound "Johnny Walker" underwater "walking" mines. The raid caused sufficient damage to result in the ''Tirpitz'' being moved south to
Tromsø
Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.
Tromsø lies in Northern Norway. The municipality is the ...
for repairs and into range for subsequent British based raids.
Six Lancasters were left in the marshes around Yagodnik. Of these, two were recovered and repaired. They were used in transport and reconnaissance roles by the Soviet forces.
See also
*
Lakhta air base, also in Arkhangelsk.
Bibliography
External links
Attacking the Tirpitz as seen by Fl Lt Bruce Buckham, 463 Squadron RAAFLancasters with Red Stars
Military installations of the Soviet Union
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