Aviation Museum “SKY ZOO” Military equipment
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The Aviation Museum “Sky Zoo” is located in Smārde parish, Tukums municipality, in the territory of Jūrmala Airport that was once the Tukums Military Airfield. The exhibit includes aircrafts YAK-40, AN-2, SU22M4, PZL TS-11 Iskra and a helicopter MI-24. Tour of the airfield includes hangars, caponiers and engineering equipment. The airfield was used by both the German and Soviet armies. During the Soviet occupation it was one of the most important military airfields in the territory of Latvia. The fighters stationed there were intended to attack enemy ships and bomb coastal fortifications. On the night of 9 November 1975, a battle alarm was received at the Tukums airfield – there was enemy warship in the territorial waters of the Soviet Union (in the Gulf of Riga), and it had to be destroyed. Several planes took off from Tukums. However, it turned out that it was the Soviet naval warship ‘Storozhevoi’ (Guardian) on which an armed mutiny against the existing Soviet regime took place. When the planes reached the warship, the battle was still ongoing. Later the rebel leader Valery Sablin, a Soviet naval officer, was wounded and the mutiny ended. He was sentenced to death for treason. This was one of the most dramatic events showing the discontent with the regime and marking the approach of its collapse.
Used sources and references:
Official website of the airport “Jurmala airport”. Available: https://jurmalaairport.com/lv [Accessed: 27.03.2021.].
Čimurs, P. Tukums military personnel do not obey. Diena, No. 57. 1992.
Ozola, A. Tukums. Old Town. Streets and houses, their inhabitants. Tukums Museum. 2007.
Shigin V. В. Rebel "Сторожевой". Last parade of captain 3rd rank Sablina. Veche, 2013.
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