Nivenskoye (Южный)

54°33'42"N 020°36'12"E

Runway: 07/25 - 2600meters/8530feet - concrete

Nivenskoye airfield (also known as Severny or Uzhnyi, Russian: Южный, or in German: Fliegerhorst Jesau) was a military airfield in the Kaliningrad exclave, Russia.
The airfield was built by the German Luftwaffe between 1935 and 1936, in what was then East Prussia (German: Ostpreußen). It was built around a circular field, with hangars standing to the north. Like its contemporary fields in the rest of Germany, it was connected to the local railway grid. It became home of JG131, flying the Messerschmidt Bf-109, in 1937. On 1 November 1938 I./JG131 was renamed I./JG130. The rest of JG130 left for Döberitz that same date. On 1 May 1939 I.JG130 was renumbered again to become I./JG1 'Oesau', flying Bf-109E. In September 1939 the unit took a minor part in the Poland campaign and then relocated to west Germany. Stab/Kampfgeschwader2 (KG2) came to the airfield in August 1939 in their Do17Z to take part in the Poland campaign.  In early 1943 Stab/, III./ and IV./JG51 "Mölders" was at Jesau to be reequipped with Fw190A.  5.(F)/Aufklärungsgruppe 122 was based in Jesau from October 1944 until December 1944.
In 1944 Jesau became the testflight station for the Me163B destined for the eastern front. From here the aircraft were to be delivered to the combat units.

Jesau likely fell to the Soviets along with the rest of East Prussia. So far I have not been able to trace anything of the airfields history between 1945 and the 1980s.


The main building from the Luftwaffe period still existed resonably intact in 2009

In the 1980s it was home to the 689 Gv IAP (689th Guards Interceptor Aviation Regiment) flying MiG-23s 'Floggers'. A helicopter unit flying Mi-24 'Hind' and Mi-8 'Hip' was also stationed at the base, designated 288 OVP (288th Independent Helicopter Regiment). 689 gv IAP converted to Su-27 'Flankers' in the 1990s. In August 2002 both the fighter and the helicopter unit were redeployed.

When the airfield closed it had a single runway and a one mile wide taxi ring on the west side of the airfield. The taxi ring fed a series of aircraft revetments and was a relic of the airfields Luftwaffe history. To facilitate unhindered takeoffs a local road had been rerouted after the construction of the hardened runway.
Although the old railway line can still be recognised from aerial photography the actual rails are no longer present. Most of the Luftwaffe hangars and the Soviet Hardened Aircraft Shelters still exist at the former airbase.


Nivenskoye air base in 2007, 5 years after it was abandoned (Google Earth)