Chebenki (also given as Cheben'ki, Orenburg Northeast, and Dmitrievka) is an air base in

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 ...

located 38 km northeast of

Orenburg Orenburg (, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies in Eastern Europe, along the banks of the Ural River, being approximately southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is close to the ...

. It has revetted areas for 15 fighters, 8 large aircraft, and considerable tarmac space. The base was served by 118 OVE (118th Independent Helicopter Squadron) flying

Mil Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union, Soviet Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) in the 1960s and introduced into the ...

and

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

helicopters between 1972 and 2007. Possibly part of the Volga or Volga-Urals Military District, its primary task was to search for and retrieve returning space objects. The base has had an

Sukhoi Su-17 The Sukhoi Su-17 (''izdeliye'' S-32; NATO reporting name: Fitter) is a variable-sweep wing fighter-bomber developed for the Soviet military. Developed from the Sukhoi Su-7, the Su-17 was the first variable-sweep wing aircraft to enter Soviet serv ...

and

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-sweep wing, variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is a third-generation jet fighter, ...

attack aircraft presence during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. From 1993 to 2007, the 4215th Aircraft Reserve Base was located here. It received Su-17, Su-24, MiG-23, and MiG-27 aircraft that during the Cold War were on combat duty at other airfields of the USSR and Eastern European countries. They were mothballed here. On April 12, 2007, the last flying Su-17UM3 flew from the Chebenki airfield to the Chkalovsky airfield. On December 1, 2007, the aircraft reserve base was reorganized into an aviation base; it also includes the 118th Independent Helicopter Squadron.

References

External links

RussianAirFields.com
Air force installations of the Soviet Union Soviet Frontal Aviation Russian Air Force bases {{Russia-mil-stub