Heiligenbeil (Хайлигенбайля)

54°28'23"N 019°57'54"E

Runway: 08/26 - 1000x200meters/0000feet - dirt/grass
(estimated, on a 1200x1000 grass field)

Air field Heiligenbeil (German: Fliegerhorst Heiligenbeil, Russian: Хайлигенбайля аэродрома) was an airfield in the Kaliningrad exclave, Russia.
The airfield was built in the 1930s by the Luftwaffe in what was then East Prussia (Ostpreußen). A unit known to have operated from the airfield was I./JG1, flying Bf-109E.
The Heligenbeil pocket was captured by the Red Army on 26 March 1945. At the end of the war it was used by the 1st and 523rd Fighter Aviation Regiment (1 IAP "Normandie-Niemen" (Нормандия-Неман) of France and 523rd "Red Banner Orders of Suvorov, Kutuzov and Alexander Nevsky" Fighter Aviation Regiment). So far I have not been able to trace anything of the airfields history between the end of the war and the 1990s.


Do-17s of 5./KG3 at Heiligenbeil in September 1939 (forum.kenig.com)


Arial photograph of Heiligenbeil in August 1944, presumably RAF-made (forum.kenig.org, large version with many aircraft visible (8.75MB) here)


Undated WW-II intelligence map of Heiligenbeil airfield


Yak-3 '44' of 1IAP 'Normandie-Niemen' at Heiligenbeil in April 1945 (Archives Penzini, via forum.kenig.com)

Today the former airfield is an abandoned Russian Army barracks northeast of Mamonowo (Мамоново), but also still known as Heiligenbeil. Judging from aerial photography it had a runway at some time, but it has since been removed. The Fliegerhorst and the barracks are still remarkably complete, although much in need of maintenance. Remains of a concrete platform and taxiway could still be found on the southern corner of the former airfield in 2009.


The former Fliegerhorst in 2002 (Google Earth)