Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1220268
Back in 1940 Monino was already a location where air- field, academy and a training squadron existed. Houses and barracks offered accommoda- tion for up to 3,500 families. Back in March 1940 a decision was made to separate the Zhu- kovskiy and Monino academic bodies. The Monino facility was to handle the basic pilot train- ing, with the first academic year beginning in September 1940. During the Great Patriotic War - the Soviet term to refer to WWII, Monino airfield was a home to Il-4 bombers. Back in 1943 a training aviation regiment was established alongside the Acad- emy. As the crew training was preparing the flight crews to fly a myriad of different aircraft, the regiment was transformed into a mixed unit, involving fighter regiments, bomber regiment, at- tack regiment, a separate trans- port squadron that all shared a common infrastructure. The airfield in Monino remained active until April 4th, 1956. From that day the grow- ing speed of the combat aircraft rendered the available runway length obsolete. Thus, on that day, the airfield was closed while the training unit was dis- banded. The first Deputy Com- mander of the Soviet Air Force, Marshal S. I. Rudenko, and head of the Academy, Aviation Mar- shal S. A. Krasovsky decided to establish a Museum in Moni- no. In the early 1958 a group of Tu-144 "Konkordskiy" and Su-25 Frogfoot. MUSEUM