Vyazma Airport is an airport in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 located 9 km southeast of Vyazma

Vyazma

Vyazma is a town and the administrative center of Vyazemsky District of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Vyazma River, about halfway between Smolensk and Mozhaysk. Throughout its turbulent history, the city defended western approaches to the city of Moscow...

. It currently serves general aviation

General aviation

General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...

.

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 a Soviet Anti-Air Defense

Soviet Anti-Air Defense

The Soviet Air Defence Forces was the air defense branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. It continued being a service branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation from 1991 to 1998. Unlike Western air defense forces, V-PVO was a branch of the military unto itself, separate from the Soviet...

 base and was home to 45 IAP (45th Interceptor Aviation Regiment) flying MiG-23P interceptor aircraft

Interceptor aircraft

An interceptor aircraft is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically to prevent missions of enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Interceptors generally rely on high speed and powerful armament in order to complete their mission as quickly as possible and set up...

. The unit was decommissioned sometime in the 1990s due to cutbacks in defense spending.

An Air Forces Monthly

Air Forces Monthly

Air Forces Monthly is a military aviation magazine published by Key Publishing, based in Stamford, United Kingdom.Sister publications include Air International, Air Enthusiast, Airliner World, Airports International, FlyPast and Today's Pilot.-External links:*http://www.airforcesmonthly.co.uk/* via...

 article in January 1997, written following a visit to the airfield, said that it had housed a DOSAAF

DOSAAF

DOSAAF was a paramilitary society in the Soviet Union, Voluntary Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation, and Fleet . The society was preserved in a number of post-Soviet Republics, e.g., in Russia and Belarus...

 training regiment up until about 1980, flying some 80 MiG-17s and two MiG-15UTIs. From 1980 the unit converted to the L-29 Delfin and then the L-39C Albatros, with around 70 aircraft on strength. When AFM visited, all the now-ROSTO aircraft, roughly 40 L-29s and 30 L-39Cs, were parked in a small area of the airfield, as there were no hangars.

Also at the airfield when AFM visited were a large number of Mi-24D/V/Ks and Mi-8TV/MT/MTVs of 440 OVP (Separate Helicopter Regiment) relocated from Stendal

Stendal

Stendal is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the capital of Stendal District and unofficial capital of the Altmark. Its population in 2001 was 38,900. It is located some west of Berlin and around east of Hanover...

in Germany. A small group of Mi-8PPAs and Mi-8SMVs, AFM said, were probably formerly flown by the 292 OVP at Cochstedt in Germany. 440 OVP's crews and families, the magazine said, have been housed in newly-built homes paid for by the German government.

Sources and references

• Hugo Mambour, 'Vjasma Aero Club,' Air Forces Monthly, January 1997, p. 40-42