In the fall of 1910, an aerodrome was founded by representatives of the Wings club on the Commandant Field. It should be considered the first Russian civilian due to the fact that at the time of its creation it belonged only to civilians and organizations.
Commandant airfield: location, description, history and interesting facts
This new area of new buildings in St. Petersburg has deep roots in the history of Russia. He begins his story from the time of Peter.
Name history
By order of Peter the Great, lands in these places began to be taken over by the commandants of the Peter and Paul Fortress. As a result, the area became known as the “Commandant's Cottage”. Then it was transformed into the “Commandant Field”.
For a long time, this territory was known as a backwater of country houses. So, in the 19th century it was a sparsely populated land. On maps from 1831, the commandant field is indicated by vegetable gardens and groves. The only structure is the Commandant's dacha, which the owners leased along with the adjacent land.
Place of Pushkin's duel
The commandant's dacha also entered the history of Russia by the fact that in 1837, a duel between Pushkin and Dantes took place here. Both participants in this tragic duel knew this area well. So, Pushkin rented a summer cottage on the lands adjacent to the Commandant field on the Black River for two summers. In the summer, Dantes lodged with his regiment in the New Village, also located nearby. Both duelists knew that in winter in these remote places there would be no strangers, which was one of the reasons for choosing a venue.
The origin of Russian aviation
The commandant field in the history of St. Petersburg and Russia is the birthplace of Russian aviation. The Imperial All-Russian Club, created in 1908, began to use the land of the field since 1910, when the first Russian aviation week was held here. For a short period of time, the Commandant’s field was equipped with utilities, fenced, erected hangars, stands, etc.
Private aircraft factories were built near the Commandant airfield. After the revolution and nationalization, they became the Red Pilot plant.
However, the first aviation holiday was overshadowed by the death of the famous pilot. 09.24.1910, Lev Matsievich fell out of the cockpit, as he was not wearing a seat belt. He was buried with great honors. The metropolitan press called him the first victim of Russian aviation. A commemorative slab erected on public donations was erected on the Commandant Field. The memorial obelisk at the site of the death of Matsievich has survived to our time. It is located in the square on the street of the Aerodromnaya municipal district “Commandant airdrome”.
The first steps of Russian aviation
Despite the setbacks and disasters, the commandant airfield continued to actively participate in the development of Russian aviation. So, on 10.10.1910, the first flight to Gatchina was made from it. In 1911, aviators made their first flight by air to Moscow. Subsequently, regular mail air flights were carried from here, which delivered mail to Moscow.
The curfew was also a pilot training center. In May 1912, an aviation school of the All-Russian Aero Club opened on its territory. It was also a testing ground for domestic-built airplanes, which were produced in private factories.
During World War I, they used the Commandant airfield as a military.
Oddly enough, its territory was used not only in the interests of aviation. So, in the spring of 1913, tests of agricultural machinery, tractors and giant plows were carried out on it.
History of the Soviet period
After the 1917 revolution, the Commandant airfield continued to be used for its intended purpose. Here, Russian designers Ya. M. Gakkel, I. I. Sikorsky and others tested their products. The workshops on which foreign-made aircraft were assembled and tested were equipped nearby. On the territory of the aerodrome, tests were also carried out of domestic aircraft, which were built at the Russian-Baltic plant. Namely: legends - “Russian Knight” and “Ilya Muromets”. The outstanding designer S.V. Ilyushin began his glorious journey from the commandant airfield. At first he worked in the supporting units, and then the pilot of the aircraft.
In 1921, the airfield served as a platform from which planes flew to suppress the rebellion in Kronstadt. In the early 1920s, a regiment of fighters was based at the airport. A military theoretical school of the Red Army Air Force was immediately created. In the period from the 30s to the 50s, the airfield remained the training and testing center of the USSR Air Force. So, in 1930, aircraft designer N. Polikarpov tested the I-series aircraft at the Commandant Airport.
At the aerodrome, employees of the gas-dynamic laboratory tested the first Soviet missiles. In 1931, the Zeppelin airship made an intermediate landing, flying to the North Pole.
War period and post-war times
The most important tasks were solved by the Commandant airfield during the days of the siege of Leningrad. It was here that IL-2 and Douglas transport aircraft landed, which delivered food to the besieged city. They took Leningraders to the mainland. Also, the airfield served as a base for fighter aviation units.
After the end of the war, until 1959, the commandant airfield was the home base of transport aircraft Len VO. Immediately housed services and academies to them. A.F. Mozhaisk and the Military Academy of Communications. Since 1963, flights have not been made from the Commandant airfield.
Modern history
In the 60s of the last century, the Commandant airfield was a huge territory, which was occupied by warehouses and various buildings for household purposes. Many of them were abandoned and were dilapidated, crumbling structures. Empty terrain swamped, overgrown with reeds and shrubs.
In the 1970s, the territory began to be actively built up. The first residential buildings were commissioned in 1973. At the same time, individual projects accounted for only 20% of the total number of houses being laid. The main network of new buildings is the so-called house-ships. They looked respectable only for a while after commissioning. Then their facades, usually covered with paint unstable to Leningrad weather, came into a deplorable state, peeling off and peeling off. The areas of new buildings began to resemble slum areas because of this.
However, the active development of the spaces of the Commandant airfield made it possible to a certain extent to solve the urgent problem of resettlement of communal housing and providing Soviet families with separate apartments in the 70s. At the same time, the quality and durability of structures faded into the background.
A new look to the area of the Commandant airdrome was given by the construction of later multi-story high-rise buildings. These skyscrapers were supposed to begin to be built back in the Soviet period. Then they built only one skyscraper 70 meters from the Lenhydroproject. She was the first high-rise building of the Primorsky district.
The construction boom that swept St. Petersburg at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century also came to the Commandant airfield. In a short time it was built up with modern residential neighborhoods. There was also a place for numerous shopping and entertainment centers.
The commandant airfield has become one of the comfortable and prestigious areas of St. Petersburg.
Municipal District
Currently, the Commandant airfield is a municipality. Included in the Primorsky district of St. Petersburg. The population, according to data for 2018, is 90, 658 people. In the west, the Commandant airfield is adjacent to the Dolgoe Lake municipal district. The southern direction is bordered by the Black River Mo. To the north is MO Kolomyagi. The eastern side of the municipality is the commandant airfield adjacent to the Vyborg district of St. Petersburg.
In 1982, the Pionerskaya metro station was commissioned in this area. To date, the Leningrad Northwest Plant is operating on the territory of Moscow Region.
