Bălți-Singureni Airfield (,

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: ''Аэродром Бельцы-Сингурены''), also known as Bălți Airfield, was the first Soviet military airfield of

Bălți Bălți () is a city in Moldova. It is the second-largest city in terms of population, area and economic importance, after Chișinău. The city holds the status of municipiu. Sometimes called "the northern capital", it is a major industrial, cu ...

(in its suburb Singureni) immediately after Bessarabia was annexed by the USSR from the

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...

Graphic illustration of dislocation of IAP-55 between 12

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the site was selected by Soviet authorities for transfer of military squadrons from Kirovograd, and, together with the then Bălți-City Airfield developed next to former Romanian military polygon and used in its turn as a training airfield in Bălți for the Singureni located airfield, was the main military air base of

in the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

period, with different auxiliary military airfield in the

Moldavian SSR The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic or Moldavian SSR (, mo-Cyrl, Република Советикэ Сочиалистэ Молдовеняскэ), also known as the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldovan SSR, Soviet Moldavia, Sovie ...

and in the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

. Starting from December 1, 1940, the Soviet 55th Fighter Aviation Regiment, started being based at the ‘Bălți’ airfield near Singureni, where it was re-equipped with

MiG-3 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 () is a Soviet fighter- interceptor used during World War II. It was a development of the MiG-1 by the OKO (opytno-konstruktorskij otdel — Experimental Design Department) of Zavod (Factory) No. 1 in Moscow to rem ...

fighters.

Vulnerability of Bălți-Singureni Airfield

Alexander Pokryshkin Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin (; – 13 November 1985) was a Soviet fighter pilot in World War II, and later a marshal of aviation. He was one of the highest-scoring Soviet aces, and the highest-scoring pilot ever to fly an American aircraft, ...

described the vulnerability of the Bălți-Singureni airfield in his memoir ''Know Yourself in Battle''. He recalled how aviation fuel tanks were dangerously exposed on a hill, next to airfield. Pokryshkin also pointed out the difficulties of using the airfield during spring: due to soft and muddy ground, aircraft would bog down, leading to frequent landing gear failures. Grigory Rechkalov, in his memoir ''In the Skies of Moldova'', described the aftermath of German air raids. These recollections highlight both the strategic significance of the Singureni airfield and its high exposure to Axis bombing in the early days of the war.

Testimonies from Soviet Pilots

The importance and vulnerabilities of the Bălți-Singureni airfield were highlighted in the memoirs of Soviet flying aces who served there in 1940–1941.

External links

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Satellite image of location of former Bălți-Singureni Airfield

Reference

Airports in Bălți Airports in Moldova Aviation in Bălți History of Bălți Defunct airports {{Airport-stub

Vulnerability of Bălți-Singureni Airfield

Testimonies from Soviet Pilots

See also

External links

Reference