Jelgava Air Base
| Jelgava Air Base | |||||||||||
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| IATA: none – ICAO: EVEA | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Civil | ||||||||||
| Operator | City authorities | ||||||||||
| Location | Jelgava, Latvia | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 20 ft / 6 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 56°40′18″N 023°40′42″E / 56.67167°N 23.67833°ECoordinates: 56°40′18″N 023°40′42″E / 56.67167°N 23.67833°E | ||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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Jelgava (ICAO: EVEA), also known as Yelgava, is an airport in Latvia located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) northwest of Jelgava, a city in Latvia. It was a military forward deployment attack base, now used by general aviation, mostly parachutists and private aircraft.
History
Air Base Jelgava was part of the first defense line of the Soviet Union. While Air Base Tukums was one of the main Soviet Air Force bases in Latvia for aircraft like the Mig-29 and SU-27, air base Jelgave was a back up base with one runway. The air base was maintained for possible backup and used for helicopters and some light aircraft. In the late 80s the runway was extended to allow use by jet aircraft.
The 285 OVEREB (285th Independent Electronic Warfare Helicopter Squadron) was based here in the 1990s flying Mi-8 aircraft.