The 23rd Air Base () is a

Polish Air Force The Polish Air Force () is the aerial warfare Military branch, branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 26,000 military personnel an ...

base, located 6 km east of

Mińsk Mazowiecki Mińsk Mazowiecki (, ) is a town in eastern Poland with 40,999 inhabitants (2020). It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship and is a part of the Warsaw metropolitan area. It is the capital of Mińsk County. Located 20 kilometers from the city li ...

. It was officially established on 1 January 2001, replacing the disbanded 1st Aviation Regiment "Warszawa". The main unit based there is the 1st Air Tactical Squadron, which operates

MiG-29 The Mikoyan MiG-29 (; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) is a twinjet, twin-engine fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the MiG-29, along with the large ...

fighter jets. On 18 December 2017, one of the MiG-29's stationed here at the base crash landed in a forest near

Kałuszyn Kałuszyn is a town in Poland, seat of the Gmina Kałuszyn (commune) in Mińsk County in Masovian Voivodeship. History In the Middle Ages, a filial church of the Catholic parish in Grębków was built. In 1472, it was upgraded to a parish chur ...

while on approach to land. The pilot survived. Initial reports were contradictory as tonwhether he had ejected. On 21 December 2017, the Ministry of Defense confirmed that the pilot did not eject. This incident marked the first crash of a MiG-29 during its nearly three decades of its operational service in the Polish Air Force. The second crash followed on 4 March 2019. This time the pilot ejected and survived.""Zobaczyłam, jak spada samolot". Straż: to maszyna wojskowa"
'' TVN 24'', 4 March 2019

References

External links

Official webpage
Airports in Poland Polish Air Force bases Mińsk County Buildings and structures in Masovian Voivodeship {{Poland-airport-stub