Kliniska highway strip

53°25'36"N 014°48'15"E

Runway: 09/27 - 2000x16meters/...feet - asphalt

Kliniska highway strip (Pol.: Drogowy Odcinek Lotniskowy Kliniska, or DOL Kliniska), was an improvised airfield east of Szczecin (German: Stettin) in Poland
The airfield was built into Highway 142 between the Gereman Border and Gdansk in 1968 during the Cold War.
This was not the first time it was used by an air force though, as the Luftwaffe had used the location in the 1940s as a radar site.
The concrete foundations of a FuMG-65 Würzburg-Riese 1 and a FuMG-401 Freya (both from Funkmeßgerät Stellung 1. Ordnung Stieglitz) can still be found at the western end of the runway.
The site was torn down however when the Soviets swept though this part of what was then Germany on their way to Berlin.
Two aircraft parkings were added in 1972 and 1974.
The airfield was set up pretty straightforward: a 2 kilometer long and 16 meter wide stretch of national highway in a forest clearing of 60 meters wide.
The center of the runway was strong enough to carry a 30 tonne aircraft.
Parking spaces, so called. stojanki, allowed for the maintenance of the machines, checks, refueling and rearming.
Throughout its history, the DOL has seen all the combat equipment supplied to the Polish Air Force, including MiG-15/Lim-1/Lim-2, MiG-17/Lim-5/Lim-6, MiG-19s, TS-11 Iskra, Mig-21, MiG-23, SU-22 and MiG-29.
Additionally from the 1990s the airfield saw aircraft from Western Europe participate in annual exercices, such as the Mirage2000, Saab Viggen and JAS-39 Gripen.





Video of several fighter jets landing and taking off at Kliniska in 2001, including Su-22 'Fitter', TS11 'Iskra', MiG-29 'Fulcrum'.
Mind the volume of the music!





Video of several fighter jets landing, rearming of a Swedish JAS-39 Gripen, and take-offs of Gripen and MiG-21 'Fishbed'.
Mind the volume of the music!





MiG-21 'Fishbed' landing at Kliniska in 2003 (lotniczapolska.pl).





MiG-21 'Fishbeds' parked at Kliniska in 2003 (lotniczapolska.pl).


The DOL exercise was held annually until early this century.
While the 2000 and 2001 editions took place as planned, the 2002 event did not proceed.
The last time DOL Kliniska was activated was on 27 and 28 May 2003, ever since the airfield has been dormant.
The airfield is easily recognisable.
Coming from Szczecin it begins less then a kilometer after the 142 leaves highway 6.
The runway begins where the pavement changes from concrete slabs to asphalt.
It ends 2 kilometers down the road with a parking on the right.
Appearantly the road is often used for illegal racing, as can be witnessed from numerous small memorials along the road and the parking areas.





View from the cockpit on Runway 09 (wikimapia).