Komendantsky Aerodrome

Categories / City Topography/Historical Geography/Historical Districts, Localities, Tracts, Municipal Establishments
Categories / City Services/Transportation/Airports, Air Transport
KOMENDANTSKY AERODROME, an area in the north-west of St. Petersburg, between Kolomyazhsky Avenue, Parashyutnaya Street, Sizova Street and Chernaya Rechka river. In the early 18th century, there was a summer residence of a commandant of Peter and Paul Fortress (the so-called Commandant's Dacha) located on the left bank of Chernaya Rechka River. The adjacent field was called Komendantskoye. In the late 19th century, a racecourse was arranged there (today - 13 Kolomyazhsky Avenue), where air shows were regularly held from 1908. By 1910, the Komendantsky Aerodrome sponsored by the Wing Association was built to the west of the racecourse. There aeronautic festivals were held, various Russian and foreign aeroplanes were tested and improved. Taken off from the Komendantsky Aerodrome, pilot G.V. Piotrovsky conducted the first flight to Kronstadt and in 1910 aviators L.M. Matsievich and M.N. Efimov performed the first night flights, in the autumn of 1911 aviator E.V. Rudnev and mechanic S. Plotnikov conducted the flight St. Petersburg - Gatchina. In the same year, members of the first in Russian group flight from St. Petersburg to Moscow took off from Komendantsky aerodrome. In September 1910, the first All-Russian Air Show was held on Komendantsky Aerodrome, during it pilot Matsievich was tragically killed. G.E. Kotelnikov also tested his back pack parachute on this site. During the First World War, Komendantsky Aerodrome was turned into a military aerodrome. In the early 1920s, a fighter squadron was based there. In the 1930s-50s, Komendantsky Aerodrome served as a training and testing ground of the Air Forces (in the 1930s, aircraft designer N.N. Polikarpov tested here his fighters of "I" series). During the Siege, regiments of fighters were based on Komendantsky Aerodrome, transport planes, carrying cargo and people landed there. In the 1940s-50s, the Komendantsky Aerodrome was used by transport aircraft. In 1963, all flights were stopped. Since the early 1970s, the territory of Komendantsky Aerodrome became a region of large scale residential construction (by 2002, about 100,000 people lived there). In 1982, Pionerskaya metro station was opened. A part of the territory to the south of Aerodromnaya Street was built up with industrial enterprises and utilities in the 1970s-80s. Among the enterprises located in the region are the Leningrad North Plant and Trolleybus depot № 6. The history of Russian aircraft and Komendantsky Aerodrome is commemorated in streets' names: Aerodromnaya Street, Aviakonstruktorov Street, Ispytateley Street, Parashyutnaya Street, Kotelnikova Alley, Lva Matsievicha Square and others. There is a museum of Komendantsky Aerodrome in school № 66.

Reference: Щербин В. Н. Площадки будущих стартов // ЛП. 1986. № 3. С. 11-12.

Е. А. Bondarchuk, P.Y. Yudin. Efimov Mikhail Nikiforovich
Kotelnikov Gleb Evgenievich
Matsievich Lev Markovich
Piotrovsky G.V.
Plotnikov S.
Polikarpov Nikolay Nikolaevich
Rudnev E.V.
Aerodromnaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Aviokonstruktorov Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Ispytateley Avenue/Saint Petersburg, city
Kolomyazhsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Kolomyazhsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 13
Kotelnikova Alley/Saint Petersburg, city
Lva Matsievicha Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Parashyutnaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Sizova Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 13
Щербин В. Н. Площадки будущих стартов // Ленингр. панорама, 1986 Siege of 1941-44
1910