Bagerovo (Багерово)

45°24′25″N 036°14′41″E

runway: 06/24 - 3500x100m/11,483x328ft - concrete
runway: 10/28 - 2000x50m - concrete

Bagerovo airfield (Russian: Стратегический аэродром в Багерово, Багеровская авиабаза №71, or in english: Strategic bomber base #71 Bagerovo) was an airfield on the Crimean peninsula, 700 kilometer southeast of Kiev.
I could not trace when the airfield was built, but it was already in use by Croat piloted Luftwaffe Bf109Gs of 15(Kroatische)./JG52 in 1943.
After the war and back under Soviet command, the airfield saw an extensive rebuild in only half a year (1951-52, although I also read 1947) for the purpose of testing cruise missiles, performing aerial nuclear explosions and the extraction of explosion products (fall out) from the clouds. To Russians and Ukrainians, this is the official beginning of the airfield. To support heavy missile carrying bombers, a vast runway was built, large enough to let two bombers take off simultaneously from opposite directions. Due to its naure, it was considered Top Secret. The airfield was home to three regiments: the 35th Independent Mixed Bomber Regiment  and the 513nd and 647th Mixed Special Aircraft Regiments. Bagerovo has seen every Soviet strategic bomber since the Tu-4 'Bull' (a Soviet reverse engineered B-29) and its personnel was known as 'Deaf-and-Dumb" as they would not acknowledge, let alone answer, questions about their jobs.


A Myasishchev M-4 Molot (Russian: Мясищев Молот (Hammer), NATO: 'Bison') on approach to Bagerovo (EnglishRussia)

In June 1971 the airfield was used for millitary manoeuvres. During the landing of An-12 and An-22 troop transports, photos and articles appeared in the press, violating its Top Secret status. As a result, the special status was lifted and the resident units were disbanded.
The airfield then became a training airfield. In the 1980s it became the second largest in the USSR, allowing it to receive all types of heavy aircraft, including the landing of the Soviet reusable space shuttle "Buran". 


A very blurry and undated photo of the airfield in Soviet times (EnglishRussia).


'Buran', the Soviet space shuttle, was intended to use Bagrovo as a landing site.


“Glory to the air forces of the USSR!” (EnglishRussia)


At some point, the airbase held over 100 aircraft (EnglishRussia)


If it were not for the Russian Aero L29 'Delphin' trainers, this photo might have well been taken somewhere in the west, instead of at Bagerovo in the Crimea. Young airmen and pilots are not that different wherever you go. They all consider themselves "Top Guns" (EnglishRussia).

After the Soviet Union desintegrated, the last forty Russian graduates left school in 1994. The airfield continued service under the Ukrainian airforce until 1998, when the military training units and the flight school were disbanded, the airfield ceased to operate, and the garrison was abandoned, along with the entire base. Since then, its infrastructure was robbed of anything remotely valuable. Its runway was frequently used for speed races.


Bagerovo in august 2007, when the basic infrastructure was still largely intact (Google Earth)


Be it motorbikes....


... or normal road cars: the 3.5 kilometer runway made a hugely attractive speed track to test your vehicle (EnglishRussia).