Rakvere Airfield () is an airfield in

Rakvere Rakvere is the administrative center, or county seat, of Lääne-Viru County in northern Estonia, about 100 km southeast of Tallinn and 20 km south of the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea. Rakvere boasts a distinctive architectural feature: th ...

Lääne-Viru County Lääne-Viru County ( or ''Lääne-Virumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is in northern Estonia, on the south coast of the Gulf of Finland. In Estonian, ''lääne'' means western and ''ida'' means east or eastern. Lääne-Viru borders Id ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. The airfield was built in the 1920s. During the

Second World War 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 airfield was used by the German

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

. During the

Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, (abbreviated Estonian SSR, Soviet Estonia, or simply Estonia ) was an administrative subunit (Republics of the Soviet Union, union republic) of the former Soviet Union (USSR), covering the Occupation o ...

Soviet occupation it was used by the

Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

, with ground-attack and transport aircraft, and by the KGB Border Guard. From July 1945 to 1954, units of the 277th Assault Aviation Krasnoselskaya Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Division,

, were based at the airfield flying

Ilyushin Il-2 The Ilyushin Il-2 ( Russian: Илью́шин Ил-2) is a ground-attack plane that was produced by the Soviet Union in large numbers during the Second World War. The word ''shturmovík'' (Cyrillic: штурмовик), the generic Russian term ...

and Il-10 aircraft. In 1954, both regiments were relocated to the Pribylovo airfield (

Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast (, ; ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). The oblast has an area of and a population of 2,000,997 (2021 Russian census, 2021 Census); up from 1,716,868 recorded in the 2010 Russian census ...

). From August 1946 to January 1947, the 566th Transport Aviation Regiment was formed at the base. It was established from the 566th Assault Aviation Regiment 277th Assault Aviation Division, consisting of 20 crews on

Po-2 Po2, pO2, , or PO2 may refer to: * A military rank: ** Petty Officer 2nd Class in the Canadian military ** Petty Officer Second Class in the United States military * Polikarpov Po-2 or U-2, a Soviet aeroplane * Partial pressure of Oxygen, that is, ...

Li-2 The Lisunov Li-2 (NATO reporting name: Cab), originally designated PS-84, was a license-built Soviet-version of the Douglas DC-3. It was produced by Factory #84 in Khimki, Moscow-Khimki and, after the factory's evacuation in 1941, at the Tash ...

aircraft and gliders. The formation of the regiment was completed by January 1, 1947. The regiment became part of the 281st Novgorod Transport Aviation Division, reformed from the 281st Assault Aviation Division. The airfield was then transferred to the Rakvere Order of the Red Star 6th Border Detachment of the Baltic Border District (military unit 2294); the 20th Separate Air Squadron (military unit 9788), 12 Mi-8T helicopters were based here. The barracks area — headquarters, barracks, canteens, garages and some other auxiliary premises of military unit 9788 — was located within the city of Rakvere. The airfield housed service and technical buildings (RTO facilities, TEC, fuel and lubricant warehouses, boxes of airfield technical support units). The airfield was supplied with electricity by two mobile power plants. Flights to protect the state border were carried out daily. One helicopter was assigned on a rotational basis to the 9th Border Detachment and was stationed on the island of

Saaremaa Saaremaa (; ) is the largest and most populous island in Estonia. Measuring , its population is 31,435 (as of January 2020). The main island of the West Estonian archipelago (Moonsund archipelago), it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hi ...

. The aircraft returned to the base for routine maintenance, and was replaced by another one. The panorama of the airfield is shown in the feature film " Alarm Flight". Officers of the unit starred in episodes of the film. The personnel of military unit 9788 included, in particular, more than 250 conscript soldiers and sergeants In the beginning of 1990s, the airfield was abandoned. In the initiative of private pilots, the airfield is reopened since 2004.

References

External links

Rakvere Airfield
at Forgotten Airfields * Airports in Estonia Buildings and structures in Lääne-Viru County Airbases of the Soviet Union Rakvere {{Estonia-transport-stub