Gabrovnitsa (Габровница)

43°32'39"N 023°16'21"E

Runway: 11/29 - 2,522x58m/8,275x190ft - concrete 

Gabrovnitsa Air Base airfield (Bulgarian: авиобаза Габровница, also known as Gabrovnitsa Air Base, ICAO: LBMG) was an airfield 90 kilometer north of Sofia.
It was built as a Bulgarian Air Force base in the early 1960s, initially operating MiG-17s. Gabrovnitsa Air Base became the home base for the 2nd Fighter Squadron of the 18th Fighter Air Regiment - an integral part of the 1st Air Defence Division in 1964- after the flight and technical staff had received its training on the MiG-21 in the Soviet Union. On February 19, 1965 squadron commander Major Nedialkov made the first landing at the base.
Introducing the front-line interceptor MiG-21PF in the airbase operations went fast and soon the unit was ready for combat duty. In 1969 they received an additional three MiG-21M, and in 1976 and 1981 another 10 second hand (e.g. used) MiG-21PFMs.


A Mig-17 'Fresco' undergoing service at Gabrovnica in the 1960s, with a P-30 "Khrustal" (Russian: "Хрусталь"; NATO reporting name "Big Mesh") in the background (via epicenter.bg)


Undated photo of MiG-21 aircraft at Gabrovnitsa airfield (via epicenter.bg).


Undated photo, captioned "samolet MiG 21 na letishte Gabrovnitsa" (MiG-21 aircraft at airfield Gabrovnitsa, via pan.bg) 

In 1984 the pilots and technicians were introduced to the MiG-23 and in the summer of the same year, the squadron reequipped with MiG-23MLA/-UB fighters, principally tasked with the defense of the capital Sofia and Nuclear Power Plant Kozloduy. Simultaneously, the squadron went through a reorganisation, which meant it was detached from the regional air defence command and instead became part of a Base/Wing/Squadron structure, known as 2nd Fighter Air Base under the newly established Air Defence Corps  and its squadron was named "Wild Cat".


Clearly inspired by that other 'swing wing' mascot, but wearing G-pants, this Wildcat badge proudly displayed the MiG-23

After the breakup of the Warsaw Pact, many changes occurred in Bulgaria. From 1991 the base and the squadron introduced a number of Aero L-29 training aircraft in addition to its 15 MiG-23 and 4 MiG-23U 'Flogger' jets. In September 1996 the base was incorporated in the new air defense corps in Sofia. The Bulgarian financial situation kept pressing for more force reductions though: According to the "2004 Plan" for reforms in the Bulgarian army, which was published in the autumn of 1998, the airbase was to cease all flight activity. Gabrovnitsa had been the main air defence asset of the sole Bulgarian nuclear power plant right until its deactivation. It was finally closed in June 2002.


Commorative photo taken after one of the last flights of the Regiment on 3 October 2002. Many photos such as this one were taken during that time at Gabrovnitsa (via pan.bg)


View of the control tower in 2006, only 4 years after having been abandoned. This sort of thing happened to many abandoned Bulgarian Air Force installations and usually Roma (gipsies), a minority people in eastern Europe, were blamed (airgroup2000.com).


Overview of the airfield in 2013, 11 years after it was abandoned (Google Earth).