Smolensk North Airport
| Smolensk North Airport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Military | ||||||||||
| Operator | Russian Air Force | ||||||||||
| Location | Smolensk | ||||||||||
| Time zone | UTC+4 (+4) | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 820 ft / 250 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 54°49′30″N 032°1′30″E / 54.82500°N 32.02500°ECoordinates: 54°49′30″N 032°1′30″E / 54.82500°N 32.02500°E | ||||||||||
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Smolensk North Airport (Russian военный аэродром "Смоленск-Северный", "Smolensk North Military Aerodrome") is a decommissioned military airbase in Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located 4 km north of the city of Smolensk. It is now used as Smolensk's sole airport for civil and military flights. It has a remote revetment area with 8 pads and a Yakovlev factory at the southeast side of the airfield, the Smolensk Aviation Plant.
The airport was originally built in the 1920s, and it eventually became a class 1 airfield with a runway 2500 m long and 49 m wide, capable of handling planes over 75 tons in weight.
Prior to 1991, it was home to the 401 IAP (401st Interceptor Aviation Regiment, disbanded around 1990), flying MiG-23P aircraft, and the 871 IAP, flying MiG-23 and Su-27.
From 1946 until 2009, the base hosted an airlift unit, the 103 Gv VTAP (103rd Guards Military Air Transport Regiment, full name in Russian: 103-й гвардейский Красносельский Краснознамённый военно-транспортный авиационный полк имени Героя Советского Союза В. С. Гризодубовой), flying Ilyushin Il-76 jets. At one point, about 28 Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft were based there.
The regiment was disbanded in the fall of 2009, and since then there have been no active units at the base except for a small airbase command post.
After the disbanding of the regiment, the airfield has been functioning in part as a civilian airport since October 2009.
A Polish government Tu-154M Lux carrying President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and an official delegation crashed during the final approach to the airport on 10 April 2010. All 96 aboard perished.
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Wikipedia