Lipetsk Center

August 1 2010 1

His story started during the first world war. The first workshops for the collection of French aircraft originated here in 1916 year. In 1918, in Lipetsk, the creation of a squadron of heavy bombers "Ilya Muromets" began, which was based on the airfield, located at that time on the outskirts of the city. Lipetsk bombers took an active part in the battles during the civil war.

In the spring of 1923, the creation of the Lipetsk aviation a school designed to train future aviators. In 1925, it was decided to form a secret Soviet-German aviation school on its basis.

German experts retooled production facilities, built two hangars and a repair shop. The Soviet-German tactical flight school opened in July 1925. Here were the Fokker D-XIII fighter jets, which were acquired in the 15-1923s during the French-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr region.

Over the next three years, the Germans invested more than a million rubles in gold in the development of the aviation school — a huge sum for those times.

The life activity of the flight school was provided by a whole network of objects that were located in different cities of the Soviet Union. In 1927, the Lipetsk aviation center began to play an important role as a testing ground, where air combat techniques were tested, German aircraft manufacturing companies tested aircraft, equipment and weapons for aircraft - optical instruments, guns, machine guns.

After Hitler came to power, the cooperation of Soviet and German specialists sharply declined, and in August 1933, the aviation school was closed. During the period of its work 130 German pilots were trained. After its liquidation, all the facilities and most of the equipment were donated to the Soviet side.

At the beginning of 1934, the Higher Tactical School of the Air Force began work on the basis of the former joint aviation school.

After the war, the flight school was reequipped for jets, a new training aviation regiment was created, which led the training of commanders for long-range aviation units. At the same time, two airfields were built.

In 1980, a museum was opened in the Lipetsk aviation center, the exposition of which introduces the main stages of aviation development in the city, from Ilya Muromets aircraft to the present. Among the museum exhibits are models of airplanes and helicopters, aircraft armament and equipment, souvenir gifts to the air center.