Arktika/Afrikanda - same Soviet airfield?

[Brian]

Hi guys

Still a few problems with Far North airfields!

Was Arktika the same airfield as Afrikanda? If not where was/is Arktika?

Cheers
Brian

[stukapilot]

Hi, Brian.

lingustically, "Arktika" is just the roman transliteration of russian Арктика which means Arctic, and Afrikanda(Африканда) has a military airbase located beyond the Arctic Circle )))

well, just a joke, lemme back to the topic. actually, both had, but "Arktika" was the name of a Sovkhoz (state farm) which was established in the years 1931-1932, according to the order of Narkompishcheprom (People's Commissariat of Food Industry), on the basis of those small farms by Okrrybolovpotrebsoyuz (District fishery consuming union) on the coast of the Kola Bay. at the end of 1934, the Murmansk Okrug Executive Committee developed a plan to enlarge the Murmansk by merging surrounding territories into it, so the whole Sovkhoz workers moved to Kola village in the Kolsky-Loparsky District, 4 km away from the city center, their new settlement established under the hills of Sala Vary. and later, a small airfield was set up before the winter war for covering the soviet fishing vessels. from 1942, the station of 767, 768 IAP of 122 IAD PVO. but this airfield was too small that the german aufklarers once believed it were a false or abandoned one and got it a nickname "Taschentüchlein"( little handkerchief). but later, due to the germans' aerial bombardment, this airfield had to be removed from the front line, which was held on the river Zapadnaya Litsa. the main task of those fighter regiments, stationed at this airfield, was a cover of the city of Murmansk and its port, ships, railways, hydroelectric equipment and other strategic facilities. btw, during the period 1942-1945, 122 IAD pilots claimed 196 enemy aircrafts.

for those aerial fotos by german planes, u can visit these pages:
http://kolamap.ru/img/war2/koljskij/.../Murmansk.html
http://kolamap.ru/img/war2/kola/thumb.html

hope it helped )))

[Brian]

Thanks Stukapilot,

Most interesting history, but I'm no wiser!

Are they one and the same, or different?

Cheers
Brian

[RSwank]

Found these:

http://www.ww2.dk/new/air force/regiment/iap/767(1)iap.htm

Arktika, Murmansk Oblast
Activated 1.42. Disbanded 15.6.46. (This may be the dates for the unit 767 not the airfield.
Location: [68 50 42N, 32 56 40E]

Afrikanda Air Base 67°27′24″N 032°47′12″E
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrikanda_air_base

[stukapilot]

hi, Brian.
RSwank might show the same idea with my conclusion that they're definitely not the same one. see here:
http://ajerodromkolezhma.ru/aerodrom...lskogo-fronta/
here's an article titled "Аэродромы Карельского фронта" (Airfields of Karelian Front), has its detailed info from which i quote.

Основным местом базирования советской авиации был полевой аэродром «Африканда», расположенный рядом с Кировской железной дорогой к востоку от одноимённого посёлка......Аэродром «Арктика», располагавшийся юго-западнее поселка Молочный — в развилке рек Кола и Тулома, впадавшие в Кольский залив примерно в 6 — 7 километрах от аэродрома.

the main base of soviet aviation was field airfiled / airstrip "Afrikanda", which was located in the east of the village shared the same name next to the railroad to Kirovsky......Airfield "Artika" which was located south-west of the village Molochnyy, where rivers Kola and Tuloma meet and follow into the Kola bay, 6-7km away from the airfield.

cheers

[Juha]

Hello Brian
is this any help, from Valtonen's book.

Juha

[Brian]

Hi guys

Many thanks collectively!

I am now satisfied that Artika and Afrikanda are two different airfields/locations.

Cheers
Brian