Lavansaari

60°00'08"N 027°51'27"E

runway: 01/19 - 1000x..m - concrete

Lavansaari airfield (Russian: аэродром Мощный; Finnish: Lavansaaren lentokentän; Swedish: flygfält Lövskär, Estonian: lennuväli Lavassaar, also known in english as Moshchny airfield) was an airfield 140kilometers west of St. Petersburg, Russia.
The airfield was built during World War II by the Red Army.
Until the outbreak of World War II and the Russo-Finnish winter war the island had been Finnish territory.
It belonged to the province of Viipuri, and had the largest population of all Finnish islands in the Gulf of Finland.
At the outbreak of war in 1939 the Finnish government decided to evacuate the population of the island.
Soon after the island was invaded by the Red Army.
During the Siege of Leningrad, Soviet Admiral Tributs decided he wanted to keep the island as a base for operations against the Germans and the Finns.
On the island he stationed a minor naval station, a radar station and an airfield.
All proved to be of significance as the war progressed.





Lavensaari airfield in February 1940. Visible at the airfield are two heavy aircraft (possibly Tupolev SBs) and ten Polikarpov I-16s (forum.axishistory.com).


The Soviets used the airfield with bombers, fighterbombers and fighters.
A known unit to have been based there was 7 GShAP, flying Il-2s.
Polikarpov I-16s and Tupolev SBs had also been observed at the airfield.
In 1943 the airfield was the scene of regular fighting between the Finnish, German and Russian air forces.
In May the Finnish clashed with Soviet fighters directly over the airfield.
They had been scrambled in reponse of a Soviet air attack.
Later that summer they attacked Lavansaari airfield with Ju-88 bombers.
By 1944 the Soviet Air Force, or VVS, was operating Lavochin La-5FN from the airfield.





Lavochin La-5 starting from Lavansaari airfield's runway, summer 1944 (electraforge.com).





Finnish reconnaissance photo of the airstrip, rotated to show the proper north (militaryphotos.net).


When the war ended the Soviets remained in control of the island.
With the Cold War breaking out around that same they beefed up its facilities.
The island became military property and part of the Leningrad Naval Base.
Although details about dates are not readily available the airfield was upgraded around 1980.
Its short runway was hardened and permanent concrete facilities were built.
At least two Hardened Aircraft Shelters were built.
The whole facillity is abandoned and overgrown now though.





Two abandoned HASes at the airfield, with the platform already mostly removed (blog.stalkersworld.ru (in Russian)).





The runway of the airstrip (blog.stalkersworld.ru (in Russian)).





Helicopter landing spot/parking (blog.stalkersworld.ru (in Russian)).





Grainy image of east side of the island, but clearly showing the runway and the pier of the naval station (Google Earth)