Tapa Airfield
Encyclopedia
Tapa is an air base in Estonia
located 3 km southwest of Tapa
. During the Cold War
it was home to 656 IAP (656th Interceptor Aviation Regiment) which flew MiG-23 aircraft. In 1987, interceptor aircraft were dispatched from Tapa to intercept Mathias Rust
's Cessna 172 in a famous Cold War incident .
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
located 3 km southwest of Tapa
Tapa, Estonia
Tapa is a town in Lääne-Viru County, Estonia. Located at the junction of the country's Tallinn-Narva and Tallinn-Tartu-Valga railway lines, it is an important centre of transit for freight as well as rail passengers...
. During the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
it was home to 656 IAP (656th Interceptor Aviation Regiment) which flew MiG-23 aircraft. In 1987, interceptor aircraft were dispatched from Tapa to intercept Mathias Rust
Mathias Rust
Mathias Rust is a German aviator known for his illegal landing on May 28, 1987 near Red Square in Moscow. As an amateur pilot, he flew from Finland to Moscow, being tracked several times by Soviet air defence and interceptors...
's Cessna 172 in a famous Cold War incident .