Borisovsky Khotilovo (also given as Borisovskiy, Borisovsky, and Khatilovo) is an air base in Tver Oblast, Russia located 24 km south of the town of Bologoye. It is an interceptor base with three groups of fan revetments and is home to 790 IAP (790th Fighter Aviation Regiment) flying 38 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 aircraft during the Cold War and Mikoyan MiG-31s through the 1990s.[1][2]
History
Borisovsky's interceptor regiment initially operated the Sukhoi Su-9 (NATO:Fishpot) in the 1960s.[3] The regiment replaced it in 1980 with the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (NATO:Foxbat-A).[3] This was unique to Borisovsky, as all other Su-9 bases received the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (NATO:Flogger).[3]
The first aircraft in the area of the village Khotilovo appeared before World War II.
In the 1950s and 1960s, propellers and first jet aircraft were based here. During their operation, many pilots and test pilots died – some pilots were buried in the cemetery in the village of Hotilovo. Until recently, it was still possible to see the graves with propellers. The town of the airfield was located along the highway. The take-off field and taxiways were created from standard metal ladders, which can still be seen in the village – they are used both as tracks and as hedges. When visiting
Fidel Castro rocket division in the city Bologoe-4, he flew with the government delegation to the Hotilovo airfield . Maintenance of the airfield went through the nearest railway station at Kuzhenkino. It was equipped with a warehouse, a loading area and a place for unloading fuel. The planes arrived and departed by rail unassembled, in wooden gray containers – the fuselage and the plane separately. Later, in the 70s, the town and the airfield itself were moved a few kilometers to the side, across the Shlin