Bobrovka was a military air base in

Samara Oblast Samara Oblast (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Samara. From 1935 to 1991, it was known as Kuybyshev Oblast. As of the Rus ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, and is now a civilian airfield. It is located 39 km east of the city of

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

. The base largely served the

interceptor Interceptor may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Interceptor'', a British drama series on BBC One * Interceptor (game show), ''Interceptor'' (game show), a British television game show that ran during 1989 * Interc ...

role for the Soviet Air Defence Force, and from 1960 was part of 4th Independent Air Defence Army. Currently, it is not used as a military airfield, in fact it is only a sports airfield - since 2000, the Samara regional flying club of the Russian DOSAAF has been based there. Near the airfield there is the village of Oktyabrsky, which is part of the rural settlement of Bobrovka, which previously served as a

military townlet In military of Russia and some other post-Soviet states (as well as in the former Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, ...

to accommodate military personnel from military units based at the airfield, as well as their families. Bobrovka had been observed by 1957 by U.S.

Lockheed U-2 The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed the "''Dragon Lady''", is an American single-engine, high–altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) since the 1950s. Designed for all- ...

overflights. A 1974 US satellite mission identified up to 89 swept-wing aircraft, most of which were likely

Sukhoi Su-9 The Sukhoi Su-9 (Air Standardization Coordinating Committee, ASCC reporting name: Fishpot) is a single-engine, all-weather, missile-armed interceptor aircraft developed by the Soviet Union. Development The Su-9 emerged from aerodynamic studie ...

(NATO: Fishpot) aircraft. By 1981 the interceptor regiment was one of four in the USSR still operating the Su-9. Bobrovka became the Soviet Union's primary storage facility for the aging Su-9, and by 1981 at least 243 Su-9 aircraft were observed parked at Bobrovka.PHASEOUT OF FISHPOT IN APVO STRANYY AIRFIELDS USSR
February 1981, CREST: CIA-RDP81T00380R000100980001-5, Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, DC. The base was home to the: * 683rd Fighter Aviation Regiment between 1952 and 1997 With the dissolution of the Soviet Union the regiment became part of the Russian Air Defence Forces. 237th Independent Helicopter Squadron (

Military Unit Number A Military Unit Number (Russian: войсковая часть, в/ ч; Ukrainian: військова частина, в/ ч) is a numeric alternate designation for military units in the armed forces and internal troops of post-Soviet ...

34395) equipped with Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters, was created in 1998 on the basis of the disbanded 437th and 95th training helicopter regiments, based in

Ozinki Ozinki () is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Ozinsky District of Saratov Oblast, Russia. Population: It is located adjacent to the Kazakhstan–Russia border The Kazakhstan–Russia border is the international border betwee ...

and

Serdobsk Serdobsk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Serdobsky District in Penza Oblast, Russia. Population: Geography It is located on the Serdoba River (Don River (Russia), Don's drainage basin, bas ...

, respectively (the latter was based at the Tashchilovka airfield, now closed, near the railway station of the same name). Initially, two detachments were formed (Mi-8 detachment and Mi-24 detachment). In 2001, the unit was joined by the 1st squadron (Mi-24 helicopters) from the 793rd separate transport and combat helicopter regiment (military unit 62977), based in the area of the village of Kinel-Cherkassy (based at the airfield of the same name, now abandoned). The squadron was reorganized into a link structure (three Mi-24 flights and one Mi-8 flight). In 2010, the squadron was disbanded.

References

Bobrovka Soviet Air Defence Force bases Military installations closed in the 2010s {{Russia-airport-stub