Graf Ignatievo Air Base
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Graf Ignatievo Air Base | |||||||
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Авиобаза Граф Игнатиево | |||||||
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Source: DAFIF[1] |
Graf Ignatievo Air Base (ICAO: LBPG) is located in the village of Graf Ignatievo, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second largest city. It is the sole remaining fighter base of that state and houses two squadrons of jet aircraft.
Early years
Graf Ignatievo is often called the German airfield by the Bulgarian aviation society, as the airfield was built with the extensive help of engineers from the
airfield
, when it became ready was turned over to the Bulgarian His Majesty's Air Troops. The first operational unit based here was the 2nd Army Aviation Regiment, comprising four yatos (squadrons):
- Fighter yato, flying the Avia B.534Dogan, Czechoslovak biplane fighters
- Level bomber yato, flying the PZL.43 Chaika Polish light bombers
- Reconnaissance yato, flying the Letov S.328 (Vrana) reconnaissance aircraft
- Training yato, flying various training machines
In 1943 the regiment was redesignated a ground attack regiment and in August the first of 12
Third Reich
.
The Jet Age
In 1945, the regiment converted to the
Lieutenant-Colonel Simeon Simeonov (a legendary figure in Bulgarian aviation history[citation needed] and future Commander of the Bulgarian Air Force
) assumed command of 10th FAD. His monument is located in the front of 3rd Fighter Air Base - Graf Ignatievo's control tower.
In April 1952, the 15th FAR relocated to
MiG-17
PF (12 units) with a radar targeting system. Those were the fighters involved in shooting down American spy balloons, deployed in great numbers over the country, downing seven of them.
In the summer of 1957, a group of pilots, headed by squadron leader Captain Razsolkov, took an operational conversion course on the
Shtraklevo airfield and later to Bezmer
airfield. In 1983, the unit converted to the MiG-21bis, acquiring 36 units, along with some twin-seaters.
Modern days
In 1990, the 21st FAR, at
American military
facilities.
See also
- http://www.grafportal.org/ Archived 2009-09-20 at the Wayback Machine
- Bulgarian Air Force
- Bulgarian-American Joint Military Facilities
- List of Bulgarian Air Force bases
- Ravnets Air Base
- Balchik Air Base
- Bezmer Air Base
- Cheshnegirovo Air Base
- Dobroslavtsi Air Base
- Dobrich Air Base
- Gabrovnitsa Air Base
- Uzundzhovo Air Base
- List of Bulgarian military bases
- The Bulgarian Cosmonauts
- List of joint US-Bulgarian military bases
References
- ^ "Airport information for LB21". World Aero Data. Archived from the original on 2019-03-05.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) Data current as of October 2006. Source: DAFIF.
- Silvia Zheleva, Alexander Mladenov, "Graf Ignatievo, an air base even after the year 2000. #History", in: "Klub Krile Magazine", Vol. 4, 2000, "Air Group 2000" Publishing, Sofia
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Graf Ignatievo Air Base.