Spassk-Dalny Airfield
Spassk-Dalny | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Military | ||||||||||
| Owner | Ministry of Defence | ||||||||||
| Operator | Russian Air Force | ||||||||||
| Location | Spassk-Dalny, Primorsky Krai | ||||||||||
| Built | Unknown | ||||||||||
| In use | Unknown | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 344 ft / 105 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 44°36′47″N 132°53′13″E / 44.61306°N 132.88694°E | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
  Spassk-Dalny Location in Primorsky Krai | |||||||||||
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| Runways | |||||||||||
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Spassk-Dalny Airfield, also known in the US intelligence community as Spassk-Dalniy East, was a Soviet Air Force base in Primorsky Krai, Russia located 6 km (4 mi) northeast of Spassk-Dalny, Russia. Spassk-Dalny was primarily a Soviet Air Defence Forces (PVO) interceptor airfield for defending against Western aircraft, with the 821st Fighter Aviation Regiment (11th Air Army) based here. However, the 219th Long-Range Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment of the 30th Air Army, Long Range Aviation was also a tenant during the 1950s and 1960s, operating Tupolev Tu-16 Badger aircraft for intelligence operations around east Asia.
History
In the late 1940s the airfield was populated by the 18th and 51st Brigades of the 27th Air Division.[1]
In the early 1960s Sukhoi Su-7 and Su-9 were based here.[2]
A 1966 satellite overflight spotted 21 Tu-16 Badger, 18 Su-7 Fitter, 21 Yak-28 Firebar, and 2 MiG-15 Fagot at this airfield.[3] The CIA in 1969 identified the Firebar aircraft as the nearest potential threat to SR-71 operations over North Korea.[4] The base's role diminished in the 1970s with the deployment of advanced MiG-25 Foxbat aircraft at Chuguyevka 60 miles (100 km) to the southeast.
In 1985 the CIA reported that Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23P (Flogger-G) and the training variant MiG-23U (Flogger-C) were crated at Spassk-Dalny and sent to Cam Ranh Base in Vietnam.[5]
Google Earth imagery in 2005 showed the airfield was already abandoned and by the 2010s that the airfield was being torn up for reclamation of concrete.
References
- ^ AIR INFORMATION: DISPOSITION OF AIR FORCE UNITS ATTACHED TO THE SOVIET ARMY AND NAVY IN THE FAR EAST, CIA-RDP82-00457R001600820009-9, Central Intelligence Agency, July 13, 1948.
- ^ SURVIVABILITY OF THE U-2 OVER CHINA, CIA-RDP75B00285R000200060021-1, Central Intelligence Agency, May 23, 1962.
- ^ CABLE TO DIRNSA FROM NPIC, CIA-RDP78B04558A001600010017-6, Central Intelligence Agency, September 28, 1966.
- ^ OXCART RECONNAISSANCE OF NORTH KOREA, IA-RDP69B00041R001600030001-8, Central Intelligence Agency, 1969.
- ^ FLOGGER ASSEMBLY CAM RANH BAY AIRFIELD, VIETNAM (SANITIZED), CIA-RDP85T00060R000300370001-1, Central Intelligence Agency, January 2, 1985.