Chkalovsky (air base)

{{Short description|Military air base in Moscow Oblast, Russia}} {{Redirect|CKL}} {{Multiple issues| {{Expand Ukrainian|topic=mil|Військове летовище «Чкаловський»|date=October 2019}} {{expand Russian|topic=mil|date=February 2024}} }}

{{Infobox airport | name = Chkalovsky | nativename = {{lang|ru|Чкаловский}} | image = NASA FIRMS 2024-10-16 Chkalovsky.png | caption = Satellite imagery of Chkalovsky air base | image2 = Ильюшин Ил-86ВКП.jpg | IATA = CKL | ICAO = UUMU | type = Military | owner-oper = Russian Aerospace Forces | city-served = Moscow | location = | elevation-f = 499 | elevation-m = 152 | pushpin_map = Russia Moscow | pushpin_mapsize = 200px | pushpin_label = CKL | pushpin_label_position = left | pushpin_map_caption = Location relative to Moscow | pushpin_mark = Airport Sign.svg | pushpin_outside=1 | coordinates = {{Coord|55|52|42|N|38|03|42|E|region:RU_type:airport}} | website = | metric-rwy = y | r1-number = 12R/30L | r1-length-f = 9,842 | r1-length-m = 3,000 | r1-surface = Concrete | footnotes = Source: Aviapages.ru<ref name="Aviapages.ru">{{cite web | url = http://www.aviapages.ru/airports/85893111011271464.shtml | title = ЧКАЛОВСКИЙ (ИКАО: УУМУ) / CHKALOVSKY (ICAO: UUMU) | publisher = Aviapages.ru | accessdate = 10 March 2010|language=ru}}</ref> }}

'''Chkalovsky''' {{airport codes|CKL<ref>{{cite web |url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/airport/airport.php?id=CKL |title=Accident history for CKL |work=Aviation Safety Network }}{{dead link|date=May 2026|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>|UUMU<ref name="Aviapages.ru" />}} is a military air base near Shchyolkovo, Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located 31 km northeast of Moscow.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

The airport name is also given as '''Chkalovskoye'''. The facility should not be confused with Kaliningrad Chkalovsk or Omsk Chkalovsk airfields.

==History==

In 1929, a decision was made to create a new flight test base of Soviet significance near Moscow. The largest runway of reinforced concrete slabs in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was built here. wind tunnels, hypobaric chambers, special scales for weighing aircraft, a research plant and other scientific and testing facilities were also built. A little later, a launch slide was built here (the first prototype of a springboard take-off runway for aircraft carriers), which was popularly called "Chkalovskaya". It was needed for the launch of heavy aircraft, primarily of the experimental ANT-25 (RD).<ref name="Museum">{{Cite web|url=http://museum-schel.ru/o-muzee/istoriya-shchelkovskogo-rajona/239-istoriya-chkalovskogo-aerodroma|language=ru |title=History Chkalovsky Aerodrome|last=|website=Schelkovsky Historical and Regional Museum |date= |publisher= |accessdate=2016-08-05 |archivedate=2016-09-19 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919130541/http://museum-schel.ru/o-muzee/istoriya-shchelkovskogo-rajona/239-istoriya-chkalovskogo-aerodroma|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1932-35, the state flight testing institute was relocated here from Khodynka, the Central Airfield. A reorganisation in December 1960 saw most testing arrangements moved to Akhtubinsk in Astrakhan Oblast.

After the German Operation Barbarossa invasion began in 1941, three fighter aviation regiments (401, 402, 403), two dive bomber regiments (410, 411), two heavy bomber regiments (420, 421), an assault regiment (430), a reconnaissance squadron, as well as three airfield service battalions (760,761,762) were formed at Chkalovsky.

The base provides air support for Star City, Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center, and other elements of the Soviet space program and Russian Federal Space Agency. It is also a major transport base, with the 8th Special Purpose Aviation Division (since 2009–10, the 6991st Air Base) operating the Antonov An-12, Antonov An-72, Tupolev Tu-154, Ilyushin Il-76, and Il-86VKP. Chkalovsky received USSR's first Il-76K for cosmonaut training on 23 July 1977.

On 27 March 1968, while on a routine training flight from the base, Yuri Gagarin and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died when their MiG-15UTI crashed near the town of Kirzhach. The bodies of Gagarin and Seryogin were cremated and their ashes interred in the walls of the Kremlin.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cavallaro|2018|p=248}}</ref> Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories, including several conspiracy theories.<ref name="Holt">{{cite news |url=http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/world/Inquiry-promises-to-solve-Gagarin.2615429.jp |title=Inquiry promises to solve Gagarin death riddle |last=Holt |first=Ed |date=3 April 2005 |newspaper=Scotland on Sunday |access-date=30 March 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415080333/http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/world/Inquiry-promises-to-solve-Gagarin.2615429.jp|archive-date=15 April 2008|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Osborn">{{Cite journal |last=Osborn |first=Andrew |date=September 2010 |title=What made Yuri fall? |url=http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/What-Made-Yuri-Fall.html|url-status=live |journal=Air & Space|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919162321/http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/What-Made-Yuri-Fall.html|archive-date=19 September 2010 |access-date=24 September 2010}}</ref>

On 18 September 2023, the Ukrainian military intelligence claimed that they had raided Chkalovsky Air Base. According to them, the raid damaged or destroyed an An-148, an Ilyushin Il-20, and a Mil Mi-28 helicopter.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-09-20 |author= Jake Epstein |title= Saboteurs 'blew up' aircraft at a Russian base in the latest in a string of attacks, causing 'hysteria,' Ukrainian military intelligence reports |language=en-US |work= Business Insider |url= https://www.businessinsider.com/saboteurs-blew-up-aircraft-russian-military-base-cause-hysteria-ukraine-2023-9 |access-date=2023-09-21}}</ref>

== See also == {{Portal|Russia|Aviation}} * List of military airbases in Russia

==References== {{Commons category|Chkalovsky Airport}} {{reflist}} * {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A3xxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA96 |title=The Race to the Moon Chronicled in Stamps, Postcards, and Postmarks: A Story of Puffery vs. the Pragmatic |last=Cavallaro |first=Umberto |date=5 October 2018 |publisher=Praxis Publishing |location=Chichester, UK |isbn=978-3-319-92153-2 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chkalovsky}} Category:Airports in Moscow Oblast Category:Air force installations of the Soviet Union Category:Soviet and Russian space program locations Category:Soviet Military Transport Aviation Category:Russian Air Force bases Category:Military airbases established in 1929