Chagan (air base)

Coordinates: 50°32′0″N 079°11′0″E / 50.53333°N 79.18333°E / 50.53333; 79.18333
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Dolon (air base)
)
Chagan (Dolon (West))
  • AMSL
705 ft / 215 m
Coordinates50°32′0″N 079°11′0″E / 50.53333°N 79.18333°E / 50.53333; 79.18333
Map
Chagan (Dolon (West)) is located in Kazakhstan
Chagan (Dolon (West))
Chagan (Dolon (West))
Location in Kazakhstan
Chagan (Dolon (West)) is located in Asia
Chagan (Dolon (West))
Chagan (Dolon (West))
Chagan (Dolon (West)) (Asia)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
13,205 4,025 Concrete

Chagan (also known as Dolon and Semipalatinsk-2) was an air base in Semipalatinsk (modern

Long Range Aviation. It contains significant tarmac space and over 50 revetments. Until at least 1980 it served as one of three bases for the Soviet Union's Tupolev Tu-95 "Bear" long-range bomber fleet. The nearby Dolon Southwest
, a former airfield 32 km to the south, was probably a dispersal field and no longer exists.

The airbase was built in the 1950s and abandoned in the 1990s.

In 1955, Dolon was one of only six Soviet bases capable of handling the Myasishchev M-4 (Bison) bomber. The 79th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division was created at Dolon in 1957. The Tupolev Tu-160 (Blackjack) was temporarily deployed to Dolon in the late 1980s.[citation needed] In 1990, Dolon had 40 Tupolev Tu-95 (Bear) aircraft, which were eliminated by 1994, ending the base's strategic bomber role.

Units based at Dolon included:

The 79th TBAD was under the control of Long Range Aviation from 1957 to 1960, the 8th independent Heavy Bomber Aviation Corps (later to become the 30th Air Army) from 1960 until 1980, and finally, the 37th Air Army from 1980 until 1992.

Both regiments were taken over by Kazakhstan in 1992 and the aircraft were withdrawn to the Russian Federation.[4]

References

  1. ^ "79th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division". Ww2.dk. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
  2. ^ "1023rd Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment". Michael Holm.
  3. ^ "1226th Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment". Michael Holm.
  4. RFE/RL News Briefs, Vol. 3, No. 9, 21–25 February 1994, via Nuclear Threat Initiative