Plestsy Airport (), also Pero (), is an airport 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 east of

Plesetsk Plesetsk () is an urban locality (a work settlement) and the administrative center of Plesetsky District, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, situated about northeast of Moscow and south of Arkhangelsk. Municipally, it is the administrative center ...

. It is a logistical base for the

Plesetsk Cosmodrome Plesetsk Cosmodrome () is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, near the town of Plesetsk, from which it takes its name. Until 2025 and the commissioning of the Andøya Space, Andøya base in Norway, it was the only operati ...

launch facility. In 2004-2005 it was modernized: radio and illumination equipment at the airfield were replaced, the power supply and communications systems were rebuilt, the runway was elongated by in 2003 and 2004 (now long), of concrete plates were also replaced. The total cost of this work was $18.2 million. The name comes from nearby Lake Plestsy. The

closed town A closed city or town is a settlement where travel or residency restrictions are applied. Historically, the construction of closed cities became increasingly common after the beginning of the Cold War, particularly in the Soviet Union. Since t ...

of Mirny is also situated in the area. The airport is still in operation as a private airport and was never a main airport.

History

In December 1958, the 156th separate mixed air squadron was formed at the Angara proving ground (now the Plesetsk cosmodrome), and in August 1966 it was reorganized into the 17th separate mixed air regiment. Until the early 1990s, the airfield wore the code name "Feather". In some sources it is mentioned under the name “Plestsy” (after the name of a nearby lake), on the English-speaking maps it is designated as “Plestsy Airport”. In 2004, the airfield was reconstructed: the light-signal and radio-technical equipment was replaced, strengthened and extended by 600 m

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

, which allows the airfield to receive aircraft types

Il-76 The Ilyushin Il-76 (; NATO reporting name: Candid) is a multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Soviet Union's Ilyushin design bureau as a commercial freighter in 1967, to replace the Antonov An-12. ...

Tu-154 The Tupolev Tu-154 (; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian airlines for several decades, ...

and lighter, as well as

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

s of all types. The maximum take-off weight of the aircraft is 200 tons. Previously,

An-26 The Antonov An-26 (NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined turboprop civilian and military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986.Gordon, Yefim. Komissarov, Dmitry & Sergey. "Antonov's Turboprop Twins ...

An-30 The Antonov An-30 (NATO reporting name: Clank), is a development of the An-24 designed for aerial cartography. It is the second member of the Antonov An-24 family, succeeding the An-24, while preceding the An-26, An-32 and canceled An-132. D ...

An-72 The Antonov An-72 (NATO reporting name: Coaler) is a Soviet transport aircraft, developed by Antonov. It was designed as a STOL transport and intended as a replacement for the Antonov An-26, but variants have found success as commercial freigh ...

An-12 The Antonov An-12 (Russian language, Russian: Антонов Ан-12; NATO reporting name: Cub) is a four-engined turboprop Cargo aircraft, transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. It is the military version of the Antonov An-10 and has ...

airplanes and

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 ...

helicopters from the structure of the former 17th separate mixed air regiment (military unit 32177) were based here. Then the 17th separate mixed air squadron (military unit 34185) was formed. In January 2014, the 17th OSAE was liquidated along with one of the country's few technical maintenance units and redeployed to 33 OTSAP (

Levashovo (air base) Levashovo (also Levashevo) is an air base located to the southwest of Levashovo, within the northern limits of the federal subject of Saint Petersburg, Russia. The base is home to the 33rd Independent Composite Aviation Regiment. It houses m ...

) in Vyborgsky district of St. Petersburg, which does not have such infrastructure. And at the airfield Plesetsk formed the aviation commandant's office, which is also part of 33 OTSAP. In August 2015, the aviation commandant's office of the Plesetsk airfield was reassigned to 7050 base of the Northern Fleet.

References

Airports built in the Soviet Union Airports in Arkhangelsk Oblast {{authority control