Kirpichnoye Кирпичное

60°27'47"N 029°25'51"E

Runway: 04/22 - 2500meters/8000feet - grass/dirt?

Kirpichnoye airfield (Russian: Аэродром Кирпичное, also known in Finnish as lentokenttä Suulajärv) an airfield 75 kilometers northwest of St. Petersburg.
The airfield was built during the short Interim Peace (following the Winter War) on April 1940 - June 1941 by the Soviet Army in what was then occupied Finland.
Early on during the Continuation War (Summer 1941), the Finnish Army recaptured the Karelian Isthmus back.
Soon they found a large round airfield, built by the Soviets.
Renamed 'Suulajarvi', the airfield soon became the main Finnish air base on the Karelian Isthmus during the war.

On 9 June 1944, the Soviet Union opened a major offensive against Finnish positions on the Karelian Isthmus.
The operation was timed to coincide with the D-Day landings.
Finland lost the Karelian Isthmus again, but this time for good.
The region became part of the Soviet Union.





A hand made drawing of Suulajärvi Airfield. Author is unknown, but he was a Finnish Air Force (FAF)
officer who likely drew it in the autumn of 1941 (map provided by Ismo Homanen).





Brewster BW-372 over the Suulajärvi airfield on Karelian Isthmus. This individual plane is the only Brewster Model 239
in the world which has survived from the WWII. It's now on display at the Aviation Museum of Central Finland, where
she will be restored. Read the whole story here (photo provided by Ismo Homanen).





A Finnish aerial intelligence photo of Suulajärvi airfield taken around July-August 1944, right after
the Soviet's major offensive against Finland. It is taken by Finnish bomber crew from the Junkers
Ju88 A-4 reconnaissance bomber (photo provided by Ismo Homanen).


The Soviets did not abandon the airfield after the war.
Although it is hard to find any details, what generally happened at the site can be seen from aerial and ground photography, even today.
A large 2500m runway was carved out in the woods, along with a prallel taxiway.
Remains of drainage- and manholes can still be found on the site today.





Colour enhanced photo of the former Kirpichnoye airfield in 2010. The lines of the runway and parallel taxitrack can be clearly seen (Google Earth).

 

Thank you to Ismo Homanen for pointing out this airfield!.