Anshan Teng'ao Airport , also called Anshan Air Base is a civil-military airport serving the city of

Anshan Anshan ( zh, s=鞍山, p=Ānshān, l=saddle mountain) is an inland prefecture-level city in central-southeast Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, about south of the provincial capital Shenyang. As of the 2020 census, it was Liaoning' ...

Liaoning Province ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...

, and a

People's Liberation Army Air Force The People's Liberation Army Air Force, also referred to as the Chinese Air Force () or the People's Air Force (), is the primary aerial warfare service of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAAF controls most of the PLA's air assets, includi ...

(PLAAF) installation in the

Northern Theater Command The Northern Theater Command () is one of the five Theater command (China), theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessor is the Shenyang Military Region, Jinan Military Region and Beijing Militar ...

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

. It is located in the town of Teng'ao, 11.8 km southwest of the city center.Anshan Airport
The airport maintains regular commercial flights to a handful of major Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai,

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

, and

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

. The airport also serves as the

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

of the 1st Fighter Brigade which operates

Chengdu J-20 The Chengdu J-20 (), also known as Mighty Dragon (, NATO reporting name: Fagin), is a twinjet, twin-engine Night fighter, all-weather Stealth aircraft, stealth fighter developed by China's Chengdu Aircraft Corporation for the People's Liberatio ...

stealth fighters. Commercial flights began in 1987, ceased in 2002, and resumed in April 2011 with a single route to Beijing.

History

During the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, the

Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

64th Fighter Aviation Corps The 64th Fighter Aviation Corps (64th IAK) was an aviation corps of the Soviet Air Forces. The corps was the parent unit for Soviet interceptor units based in northeastern Manchuria during the Korean War. The unit claimed a 3.4:1 kill ratio in favo ...

was stationed at Anshan Air Base, where they actively engaged in the aerial defense of North Korea against the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

aircraft and attacking USAF aircraft in the area that became known as

MiG Alley "MiG Alley" was the name given by United Nations Command, United Nations (UN) pilots during the Korean War to the northwestern portion of North Korea, where the Yalu River empties into the Yellow Sea. It was the site of numerous dogfights betwe ...

. The corps consisted of 351st Fighter Aviation Regiment, a

night fighter A night fighter (later known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor post-Second World War) is a largely historical term for a fighter aircraft, fighter or interceptor aircraft adapted or designed for effective use at night, during pe ...

regiment which consisted of

MiG-15 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful jet fighters to incorporate s ...

and

Lavochkin La-11 The Lavochkin La-11 (NATO reporting name Fang) was an early post-World War II Soviet long-range piston-engined fighter aircraft. The design was essentially that of a Lavochkin La-9 with additional fuel tanks and the removal of one of the four 2 ...

. Due to the low effectiveness of the La-11 in air battles against jet aircraft, the regiment mastered the night fighting capability of the MiG-15, on which it continued combat operations.

Airlines and destinations

Trivia

*Anshan Air Base was visited in March 2007 by

Peter Pace Peter Pace (born November 5, 1945) is a retired United States Marine Corps General (United States), general who served as the 16th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Pace was the first Marine officer appointed as chairman and the first Marine ...

, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. *In

Tom Clancy Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science, military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of ...

's novel ''

The Bear and the Dragon ''The Bear and the Dragon'' is a techno-thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and released on August 21, 2000. A direct sequel to ''Executive Orders'' (1996), President Jack Ryan (character), Jack Ryan deals with a war between Russia and China, r ...

'', Anshan Air Base is heavily damaged by

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

F-117 The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is an officially retired American single-seat, subsonic, Twinjet, twin-engined, stealth aircraft, stealth attack aircraft developed by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works division and operated ...

stealth fighters to neutralize it in preparation for a raid on a nearby

ICBM An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...

launch site.

Notes

References

External links