Military airfield near Tukums
The barely visible, grass-covered hangars by the highway to Tukums were home to army fighter jets during the Soviet era. Even in those days, the airfield and hangars were camouflaged, and the uninitiated had no idea about it.
Driving along the Ventspils highway, about a kilometer before the turn to Tukums, even from a passenger car, you can see hangars overgrown with grass and greenery on the right side, where Soviet army fighter jets once stood. In the days of the USSR, an ignorant person would not even suspect that a military airfield was camouflaged next to the highway. However, the airfield hid not only fighter jets, but also something more - mobile missile launchers with missiles. In order to camouflage these weapons from the curious eyes of civilians, the inscriptions "Ogņeopasno" - fireproof were painted on the mighty missile launchers. Thus, local civilians might get the idea that in fact fuel is transported with the tank-like vehicles, not missiles. Currently, the airfield is used for small aviation purposes. Among other things. On April 8, 1950, Soviet fighters shot down a US plane with a crew of ten at sea near Liepāja, which allegedly had flown into the territorial waters of the USSR and was spying. The fate of the pilots is still a mystery, but the fighters took off to intercept the US plane directly from the Tukums airfield. This incident was described by the German writer Wolfgang Schreier in his novel, Captain Loya's Dream, which was also translated into Latvian and published in the Latvian SSR. Apparently, with the intention of correctly shedding light on this event for the readers of Latvia.
An anonymous soldier who served for a time at Tukums airfield during the Soviet era.
Related objects
Aviation Museum “SKY ZOO”
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.
