Smirnykh (air base)

Smirnykh
IATA: none ICAO: none
Summary
Airport type	Military
Operator	Soviet Air Force
Location	Smirnykh
Elevation AMSL	141 ft / 43 m
Coordinates	49°44′18″N 142°51′36″E / 49.73833°N 142.86000°E / 49.73833; 142.86000Coordinates: 49°44′18″N 142°51′36″E / 49.73833°N 142.86000°E / 49.73833; 142.86000
Map
Smirnykh
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 01/19 8,202 2,500 Concrete

Smirnykh (Russian: Смирных) is an abandoned Soviet airbase in Sakhalin, Russia located 2 km east of the village of the same name. It appeared in June 1966 KH-7 imagery with a runway length of 2,000 m. It was expanded sometime after this to 2,500 m with a new extension of revetments added.

History[]

The base was originally built near the town of Smirnykh, a coaling and watering station for the Sakhalin railway. The airfield was first detected by Western intelligence around 1962. By 1965 19 Yak-28P Firebar were known to be stationed at the airfield.^[1]

In October 1972 a US reconnaissance satellite assessment showed 17 Yak-28P long-range interceptors, 2 Antonov An-24 Coke transports, and 1 Lisunov Li-2 Cab (DC-3 copy) transport.^[2]

By the 1980s Smirnykh was home to a MiG-23 (Flogger-G) interceptor regiment^[3] An ICAO report on the 1983 downing of Korean Air Flight 007 indicated PVO (Soviet Anti-Air Defense) MiG-23 fighter aircraft from Smirnykh were scrambled, but it was an Su-15 jet from Dolinsk-Sokol which carried out the shootdown.

The airfield is no longer in use and the runways have not been maintained in decades.

References[]