Dolinsk-Sokol is a reserve military air base in

Sakhalin Oblast Sakhalin Oblast ( rus, Сахали́нская о́бласть, r=Sakhalinskaya oblastʹ, p=səxɐˈlʲinskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) comprising the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in the Russian ...

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 8 km south of

Dolinsk Dolinsk () is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities * Dolinsk, Sakhalin Oblast, a town in Dolinsky District of Sakhalin Oblast ;Rural localities * Dolinsk, Orenburg Oblast, a settlement in Toksky Selsoviet of K ...

. It is a small base with numerous hardened hangars (aircraft shelters). It existed before June 1966 according to declassified KH-7 satellite images. Its chief operating unit was 777th Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO (777 IAP), flying the

Sukhoi Su-15 The Sukhoi Su-15 (NATO reporting name: Flagon) is a twinjet supersonic interceptor aircraft developed by the Soviet Union. It entered service in 1965 and remained one of the front-line designs into the 1990s. The Su-15 was designed to replace t ...

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

, and

Sukhoi Su-27 The Sukhoi Su-27 (; NATO reporting name: Flanker) is a Soviet Union, Soviet-origin twinjet, twin-engine supersonic Supermaneuverability, supermaneuverable fighter aircraft designed by Sukhoi. It was intended as a direct competitor for the lar ...

during its 40 years of tenure. In the 1980s it received the

Mikoyan MiG-31 The Mikoyan MiG-31 (; NATO reporting name: Foxhound) is a supersonic interceptor aircraft developed for the Soviet Air Forces by the Mikoyan design bureau as a replacement for the earlier MiG-25 "Foxbat"; the MiG-31 is based on and shares de ...

. It is also listed as being home to 361 IIVP (361st Instruction Test Helicopter Regiment) flying

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 ...

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. In the early 1980s,

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames include: "''Balalaika''", because its planf ...

Fishbed aircraft occasionally deployed from Dolinsk-Sokol to the front-line airfield of Burevestnik, 240 miles to the southeast on the

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. The islands stretch approximately northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the ...

Flogger Deployment, Burevestnik Airfield, USSR
Central Intelligence Agency, August 28, 1983. In early 1983 Dolinsk-Sokol began deploying newer

from Dolinsk-Sokol to Burevestnik after upgrades were completed there. Dolinsk-Sokol is famous for being home to the

that shot down

Korean Air Lines Flight 007 Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (KE007/KAL007)In aviation, two types of Airline codes, airline designators are used. The flight number KAL 007, with the ICAO code for Korean Air Lines, was used by air traffic control. In ticketing, however, IAT ...

near Moneron Island in September 1983. At that time, base commander was General Anatoly Kornukov, who later become Commander of the Russian Air Force. At the time of the shootdown, Kornukov apparently ordered the shootdown to prevent KAL 007 from leaving Sakhalin airspace.

References

Russian Air Force bases Soviet Air Defence Force bases Airports in Sakhalin Oblast {{Russia-mil-stub

See also

References