Formation and Development of Airfield Network of Leningrad Region during Great Patriotic War

Abstract

The issue of the formation of the Leningrad airfield network in the pre-war period and its transformation during the years of the blockade are considered. Particular attention is paid to processing statistics of the involved network. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that for the first time a number of data on the results of the work of the airfield construction department of the front and the administration of airfield construction of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) are being introduced into scientific circulation. The question is raised about the causes of aerodrome-technical problems in the work of aviation in the North-Western direction in the initial period of the war. General information about the airfield network on the “mainland” used by the forces of the 14th air army and the aviation of the Baltic fleet is provided. The author dwells on a detailed examination of the airfields of the Leningrad air hub, their maintenance, use and transformation. Information on the main problems in the use of airfields in the winter period and plans for the development of the network in the period 1942/1943 are given. It is proved that, despite the impressive volume of the airfield network, one way or another involved in the defense of the city, only a limited number of them were used during the most difficult period from the fall of 1941 to the spring of 1943.

Keywords

• aerodrome
• aviation
• leningrad
• blockade
• communications
• supply
• air force