Petrel (airport)

Since November 1945, the regiments of the 255th mixed (since 1949 - the 110th mixed, and since 1953 the 110th fighter) aviation division were based at the airport:

• 307th Fighter Aviation Order of the Red Star Regiment on the Yak-9, R-63 aircraft of Kingkobra, MiG-15 and MiG-17 (from 1945 to 1960, disbanded);
• The 308th Fighter Aviation Regiment on the Yak-9, R-63 aircraft of Kingkobra, MiG-15, MiG-17, MiG-21 SM (from 1945 to April 1983).

Due to the difficult and tense foreign policy situation between the USSR and the USA, rotation was carried out in August 1983: the 308th fighter regiment armed with the MiG-21 was replaced by the 41st fighter regiment based at the Postova airfield (near Sovetskaya Gavan ) and armed with more modern MiG-23 MLD aircraft. This rearrangement was caused by the fact that the old MiG-21 could not withstand the American deck fighter F-14 "Tomket". This regiment was stationed at the airport until 1994, then the 41st, as well as the 308th IAP were disbanded, the planes flew to the storage base in Komsomolsk-on-Amur (aerial. Dzemgi ), where they were then disposed of.

Aeroflot’s transport and civilian flights were also carried out to the airport, although it remained the property of the USSR Ministry of Defense and was not included in the list of joint airfields.

Until 1979, a prefabricated metal runway from iron profiled sheets was used, obtained by Lend-Lease , but after the typhoon “Tip”, which destroyed the strip, damaged and destroyed many aircraft (several people died), a reinforced concrete runway and a new one were built air terminal.

In 1960, a barge with four soldiers who drifted into the sea for 49 days until they were found from the American aircraft carrier Kirserge blew away from the sea pier at the airport in low tide. ^[3]

On July 1, 1968, the Douglas DC-8 aircraft of the American transport company Seaboard World Airliners was forced to land , traveling from Seattle to Japan with troops (marines) deployed for the Vietnam War . After 2 days, the plane was released with all the passengers who helped to extend and deploy the plane manually due to the fact that the strip was not adapted for such large aircraft. In April 1983, the MiG-23s were raised on an alert to intercept the F-14, but the interception did not take place due to bad weather.

In 1993, fighter aircraft was withdrawn, there remained an air commandant who serves the airfield.

Frequent fogs (during the warm season) and snowstorms (during the cold season) observed on the Pacific coast of Iturup cause constant flight delays at the airport.

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  Burevestnik Airport

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  IL-14 near the airport "Petrel"

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  A sign of memory to the dead crew and two passengers in 1970

On August 30, 1981, the Il-14 plane, which belonged to the 257th OSAP (Khabarovsk), crashed. The transport flight Khabarovsk-Burevestnik, crew commander Bulatov S.I., carried out transportation of military personnel, officers, including colonel, commander of the military unit on the island. When trying a second approach in dense fog, the plane crashed in the region of GDP, collapsed and burned down. After the fall, several people remained alive, but they could not be saved. Total killed 18 people.

From 2007 to 2014, the construction of the new Iturup Airport ^[4] was carried out within the framework of the Federal Target Program “Social and Economic Development of the Kuril Islands (Sakhalin Oblast) for 2007-2015”. On September 22, 2014, the airport accepted its first scheduled Aurora flight from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk with 50 passengers on board ^[5] . As expected, the opening of the airport caused a negative reaction from the Japanese Foreign Ministry , which considers the island to be part of this country ^{[6] [7]} . On June 17, 2017, the airport first accepted a passenger flight from Japan.

• Regular flights to Burevestnik Airport on Iturup Island will resume