Protasovo ( rus, Протасово), in western media also given as Ryazan Alexandrovo or Aleksandrovo, was an air base in

Ryazan Oblast Ryazan Oblast ( rus, Рязанская область, r=Ryazanskaya oblast, p=rʲɪˈzanskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Ryazan, which is the oblast's largest city. Geo ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

located southeast of

Ryazan Ryazan ( rus, Рязань, p=rʲɪˈzanʲ, a=ru-Ryazan.ogg) is the largest city and administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the banks of the Oka River in Central Russia, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Cens ...

. Before 1992 it was home to the ''Ryazan Training Centre'' ( rus, Рязанский УАЦ, Ryazanskiy UATs), a

DOSAAF DOSAAF (russian: ДОСААФ), full name ''Volunteer Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation, and Navy'' (russian: Добровольное общество содействия армии, авиации и флоту), was a parami ...

training unit, flying the L-29. After the 1992 military reforms, the unit was disbanded, and the airbase became home to the ''865th Helicopter Reserve Base'' ( rus, 865-я брв / 865-я база резерва вертолётов, 865-ya baza rezerva vertolyotov), a storage and dismantling unit, handling

Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (russian: Ми-8, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968. It is now produced by Russia. In addition t ...

and

Mi-24 The Mil Mi-24 (russian: Миль Ми-24; NATO reporting name: Hind) is a large helicopter gunship, attack helicopter and low-capacity troop transport with room for eight passengers. It is produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and has been ...

helicopters of the

Russian Air Force "Air March" , mascot = , anniversaries = 12 August , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = , decorations = , batt ...

. However, Google Earth high-resolution images from 2004 and 2005 show the airfield was vacated with no aircraft present, probably meaning all helicopters had been scrapped by then. Currently the Ryazan Aeroclub is based on the airfield.

Sources

* *https://archive.today/20080110072449/http://www8.brinkster.com/vad777/russia/air/va/16va_mvo.htm - accessed January 2007 Soviet Air Force bases Soviet Frontal Aviation Russian Air Force bases Ryazan Oblast {{Russia-mil-stub