Tetovo Airport ( Macedonian Tetovo Aerodrome ) is a former Macedonian military and sports airfield. It was built in 1948 and became one of the most modern airfields of Yugoslavia and the entire Balkan Peninsula, used by the Yugoslav People’s Army . Located 8 km south of Tetovo near the Tetovo-Gostivar highway. It was later abandoned, used as a sports one, but over time it was almost completely destroyed. Currently, there are practically no traces of it on the site of the airdrome, although locals still call the area “Airdrome” to this day.
| Tetovo | |||||||
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| Maced. Aerodrome Tetovo | |||||||
| IATA : no - ICAO : no | |||||||
| Information | |||||||
| Type of | military / sports | ||||||
| A country |  North Macedonia | ||||||
| Location | Zherovyan | ||||||
| opening date | 1948 | ||||||
| closing date | 1995 | ||||||
| NUM height | |||||||
| Runways | |||||||
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History
The airfield in Tetovo was built by the spring of 1948 at the request of the USSR, and was considered the most modern military airfield in the Balkans. It had a concrete runway 2500 m long and 150 m wide, located 8 km south of Tetovo on the left side of the road to Gostivar, in the village of Zherovyan. The road from the airdrome also led to the villages of Gorno-Sedlarce. The construction was carried out under the guidance of Soviet specialists, at least 200 new Soviet-made fighters and bombers were based at the airport. According to CIA intelligence from December 1948, it was the second airfield in Yugoslavia after Skopievsky, where the 3rd air regiment was based, and it could be used potentially by the USSR Air Force.
The airfield was equipped with all modern equipment for conducting full-scale operations, including for night sorties. Here were located 250 Soviet military aircraft, including 10 fighter squadrons and 80 bomber squadrons, including Soviet Yak family fighters, Il attack aircraft, Pe bombers and American Martin bombers. This airport was the central aviation base of Yugoslavia, from which it was possible to make combat missions to control the airspace of Southern Serbia (for defense), Greece and Turkey (for attack). It was the main air base of the USSR, where fuel and ammunition were stored.
After the conflict between the USSR and Yugoslavia, Soviet military experts left the country, and the airfield was no longer mentioned in American reports. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the airfield was used as a sports one, and the concrete strip was overgrown with grass. It conducted exercises of paratroopers who parachuted using the training Po-2 flying from Skopje. The hangars were abandoned. By 1995, the airfield was no longer mentioned in any documents, and at present nothing reminds of its presence near Tetovo.