Import/Export Facilities DB: Get them here

[Gunner98]

Looking forward to blowing it all up!

Ahh but in some scenarios you'll be using it [;)][:D]

[Rob322]

ORIGINAL: Gunner98

Looking forward to blowing it all up!

Ahh but in some scenarios you'll be using it [;)][:D]

Excellent! [8D]

To be fair, I don't know how far out into the Pacific you plan to go but I did add a bunch of facilities in California too, for equal opportunity destruction! [:D]

[Gunner98]

Well I think Japan, Guam, the Philippines and Oceana are good enough [;)].

But like the Japanese, we'll cause enough of a scare on the west coast so a sizable chunk of US forces get tied down in coastal defense[:D] [8D] Recollections of NF#3 Dagger to the heart

[Blast33]

One CMO user posted something nice on Twitter. His name is @TheBrit96.
It is in .scen format and you can choose many countries.

The shared link is:https://wetransfer.com/downloads/104cc5b782ca6f2309fced925cd5109820210223155012/1fe387

This is hours/days/weeks of work, so to share this is super! Disclaimer: it is Work In Progress.
Very grateful for sharing @TheBrit96!!

[Rob322]

Life has lightened up a bit so I'm getting back into it. I'm planning to do the Soviet 16th Air Army. This was the premiere Air Army for the late-Cold War Soviets, being stationed in East Germany. They got the best equipment and was a sought after posting. The Air Army was broken into three fighter divisions (usually about 3 regiments with ~30-35 AC each) and two fighter-bomber divisions. The army also had two separate SU-25 regiments and recon and transport regiments. Today I'm doing the 16th Guards Svirskaya Red Banner Fighter Aviation Division! This division had its roots in the Second World War and went through several designations until being renamed the 16th in late 1944. In 1960 it had relocated to East Germany and remained there with few changes until the mid 1990's when it relocated to the Rostov region of Russia. The 16th disbanded in 1998.

33rd Fighter Aviation Regiment: This unit was based at Wittstock, NW of Berlin. It flew Mig-21's into the early 1980's and then converted slowly over several years, first to Mig-23's and then in 1985 to exclusively Mig-29's. The 1990 CFE data from 1990 showed it's strength at 21 Mig-29's and 2 Mig-23U's (a two seat trainer).

733rd Fighter Aviation Regiment: The 773rd was based at Damgarten, an airfield close to the Baltic Sea just NE of Rostock. In the late 1980's, the regiment was flying Mig-23's but began conversion to Mig-29 in 1989. CFE data the next year has 31 Mig-29 and 4 Mig-23UM's.

787th Fighter Aviation Regiment: This regiment was based at Finow, an airfield NE of Berlin beginning in 1970 and remained for 23 years. Initially flying Mig-21's, they transitioned to Mig-23's in 1976. In 1982, she also acquired some Mig-25PD's. It's unclear if these were replacements for or in addition to the Floggers. In August of 1989, the 787th began to convert to a Mig-29 wing and the Floggers and Foxbats were gone by the end of the year. CFE data shows a strength of 31 Mig-29's and 3 Mig-23UM's.

What intrigues me is that if the info I have is accurate, the Soviets were upgrading their forward air forces more slowly than a lot of contemporary western sources suggest. Even at the beginning of 1989, two of the three assigned regiments were still flying Floggers. It could be the Soviets were not building airplanes as fast as we believed, that they were actually holding back more advanced designs for air defense purposes (this seems true with the SU-27's), or that assumptions back then that were available to westerners was simply wrong. It could also be my current sources are wrong as well. Any thoughts or insights would be helpful but I'm a little underwhelmed.

It's also interesting that they seemed to be holding a few Mig-23's specifically for training at the forward bases, which seems odd. Why not just have your pilots train in the rear on your older designs and then fly the first rate equipment exclusively at the forward airfields? Maybe they would've gotten a trainer version of the Mig-29 eventually but it seems like they just had a very different approach.

I'm including links to my sources below. These are really helpful to building out these bases and can also be helpful I imagine for people building scenarios.

1. http://www.ww2.dk/new/newindex.htm A great resource of Soviet OOB's for all branches.
2. https://www.mil-airfields.de/germany/so ... ields.html
3. https://www.forgottenairfields.com/glob ... urope.html

As always, many of these old Soviet bases are very decommissioned and often returning to nature. The Germans also seem to be covering all of them with solar panels so many of these features are somewhat approximations. Any errors or omissions are no one's fault but mine. Enjoy and if anyone has feedback please let me know!

[Rob322]

Here's the next unit. This is the 125th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division, consisting of the three regiments listed below. The Division was stationed in East Germany continuously from 1951 to 1993, when it returned to Russia and disbanded.

19th Guards Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment: Based at Lärz (also sometimes known as Rechlin), this regiment flew Mig-27's and had 32 in the inventory in 1990 (as well as 7 two-seater Mig-23's). It's easy to forget but the Soviets/Russians continued to operate at these bases for a few years after German reunification but now had to contend with trying to do so in a free society that allowed a good deal of civilian access. Check out the photos in this link (https://www.forgottenairfields.com/airf ... z-338.html) for examples of this. What a time for an aviation photographer though!

20th Guards Red Banner Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment: The 20th was based at Templin Air Base NE of Berlin and this is a fascinating facility. It covers a large physical area, has an interesting auxiliary runway/taxiway and could easily accommodate more than a regiment of SU-17's.Apparently it saw visits from many aircraft, including transports, heavy bombers and other fighters and tactical bombers. It was even reconfigured to be an emergency landing field for the Buran, the Soviet copy of the Space Shuttle! It's permanent resident was the 20th, which stated an inventory of 39 SU-17M4's during the 1990 CFE data exchange.

730th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment: Based at Neuruppin, this regiment listed 22 SU-17M4's in the CFE data, which seems a little low but as it was heading back to the USSR the next year it's possible a squadron had already returned or disbanded.

[Rob322]

The next unit is the 6th Guards Donskaya-Segedskaya Red Banner order of Suvorov Red Banner Fighter Aviation Division (try saying that fast three times!). In 1989 (roughly the time I'm aiming for here) the 6th underwent a transition, shipping the 296th Fighter Aviation Regiment to the 105th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division and receiving the 968th Fighter Aviation Regiment from the USSR. While regiments were moving around, they also were moving shop to new bases. The OOB below reflects this Division as it was in approximately August of 1989.

31st Guards Nikopolskiy Red Banner order of Suvorov Fighter Aviation Regiment: Located at Falkenberg, a fighter base to the East of Leipzig, the 31st Guards had just transitioned to Mig-29's in March of 1989, handing over most of the Mig-23's. CFE inventory the next year had them at 32 Mig-29's and 6 Mig-23U's.

85th Guards Sevastopolskiy Red Banner order of Bogdan Khmelnitskiy Fighter Aviation Regiment: This regiment flew from Merseburg, a small fighter base west of Leipzig. The 85th had 31 Mig-29's and 2 Mig-23U's in their lineup just before returning to the Soviet Union in 1991.

968th Sevastopolskiy Red Banner order of Suvorov Fighter Aviation Regiment: As mentioned above, the 968th was a newcomer to the 6th Fighter Division, having transferred to it from the USSR in the summer of 1989. THe regiment was equipped with 31 Mig-29's and 4 Mig-23U's. Of course the regiment didn't stick around. Altenburg was closed in 1992 and the regiment spent a couple weeks at Falkenberg before returning to the Soviet Union that April.

[Rob322]

Now up is the 105th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division, a division consisting of three Fighter-Bomber regiments located at bases south of Berlin.

296th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment: As mentioned in the last post, this regiment spent it's summer moving from the 6th Fighter Division and being based at Altenburg, to transferring under the command of the 105th Fighter-Bomber Division at rebasing to Grossenhain. Equipped with 32 Mig-27K's and 10 Mig-23U's. Returned to Russia on 3/22/93.

559th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment: A Mig-27 regiment (32 Mig-27K's and 9 Mig-23U's) flying out of Finsterwalde. This regiment returned to Russia at the same time as the 296th above.

911th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment: This regiment flew out of Brand Air Base and was equipped with 32 Mig-27's (or varying types) and 10 Mig-23U's. She returned to Russia in 1992. Brand was a large base and could easily have hosted more units; the base had a very similar layout to Templin.

Interestingly, the Mig-27 would've been harder pressed to reach targets in West Germany from these locations. Indeed, a couple of the loadouts in CMO would've given the planes such a diminished combat radius that it could only perform attacks in East Germany if launched from their home stations! Given the inability to conduct aerial refueling, I imagine that operating the Floggers from forward bases, highway strips and any captured airfields would've been necessary for their utilization.

[Rob322]

Next we have the 126th Fighter Aviation Division, which had three fighter regiments operating around and to the west of Berlin.

73rd Guards Stalingradsko-Venskiy Red Banner order of Bogdan Khmelnitskiy Fighter Aviation Regiment: Based at Köthen Air Base, this regiment re-equipped with Mig-29's in 1987 and had an inventory of 37 Mig-29's and 4 Mig-23U's. This is larger than most of the other fighter regiments equipped with Mig-29's, perhaps because the others were still getting up to full strength?

35th Fighter Aviation Regiment: This regiment was based at Zerbst until returning to Russia in June of 1992. Upgraded from Mig-23's to Mig-29's in 1987/88, the regiment had 31 Mig-29's and 6 Mig-23U's in 1990.

833rd Fighter Aviation Regiment: The 833rd was the last Mig-23 regiment in East Germany, equipped with 36 of the "MLD" model. Based at Jüterbog-Altes Lager from 1953-1992, the regiment never received Fulcrums although it's reasonable to presume it would've had the Cold War continued.

[Rob322]

Two regiments assigned directly to the Air Army, with no intervening division HQ. Both of these were equipped with the SU-25 and both arrived in the mid 1980's as that type began entering wider service.

357th independent Assault Aviation Regiment: This regiment arrived at Brandis Air Base in October 1985 in the southern part of East Germany. It had 32 SU-25's and 6 L39C's (a type of trainer) in it's inventory in 1990. The regiment returned to Russia in 1992 and disbanded the next year.

368th independent Assault Aviation Regiment: The 368th deployed to East Germany in 1988, being stationed at Tutow, a small reserve base located in the NE of East Germany. Inventory was similar to the 357th, with 32 SU-25's and 4 L-39C's. The regiment returned to Russia in 1993 and disbanded.

[Rob322]

Now we have three independent reconnaissance regiments, all under 16th Air Army control.

11th independent Vitebskiy Red Banner order of Kutuzov Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment: The 11th was based at Neu-Wezlow, a large base in the eastern part of East Germany. This is another large base with some very spread out dispersal areas. This regiment flew Yak-28's until around 1986, when it equipped with the recon version of the SU-24. As of 1990, 20 SU-24MR's and 12 SU-24MP's were assigned. In 1991, the SU-24MP's were replaced by 12 Mig-25RB's (orphaned from the disbanding 931st regiment below) and in 1993 the regiment returned to Russia.

294th independent Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment: This unit was based at Allstedt, a small base within 50 miles of the Inter-German border. This regiment was flying 24 SU-17M3R's and 5 SU-17UM's and disbanded in place in 1991.

931st independent Guards Prazhskiy Red Banner orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment: This regiment was based at Werneuchen, a base located just outside Berlin. The unit had two squadrons of Mig-25's and one (the 2nd squadron) of Yak-28. The Yaks finally left in July of 1989 and there appear to have been plans to upgrade that squadron to the SU-24MR but then end of the cold war cancelled that plan and the 931st remained an understrength regiment (just 14 Mig-25's in 1990) until it was disbanded in 1991.

[Rob322]

Last but not least, we have the 226th independent Mixed Aviation Regiment staging out of Sperenberg Air Base, a large facility just south of Berlin. It flew a wide variety of transport aircraft and helicopters and was one of the last air units to return to Russia in 1994.

With that, I'm done with the 16th Air Army! I hope you find these useful for your campaigns.

[deepdive]

Thank you Rob322 so much for your great work

[Rob322]

ORIGINAL: deepdive

Thank you Rob322 so much for your great work

You're welcome! I'm having fun creating (and destroying)!

[cdnice]

ORIGINAL: Blast33

One CMO user posted something nice on Twitter. His name is @TheBrit96.
It is in .scen format and you can choose many countries.

The shared link is:https://wetransfer.com/downloads/104cc5b782ca6f2309fced925cd5109820210223155012/1fe387

This is hours/days/weeks of work, so to share this is super! Disclaimer: it is Work In Progress.
Very grateful for sharing @TheBrit96!!

Tried to get this file but wouldn't download. Has anyone uploaded to the workshop by chance?

[Blast33]

Here you are, enjoy.
Remember he was not finished yet.

Srry the file was first too large (1.63Mb .ZIP..?) But now its there [&:][:)]

[Gunner98]

Rob

Taking a look at your Dutch airbases, which as usual are fantastic! In the entry for Leeuwarden you mention this:

it was home to two fighter squadrons, No. 322 "Action, Not Words" Squadron

There is another nickname for this squadron 'Polly Parrot' because of their mascot - which apparently goes everywhere with them.

A quote from this site it telling and the date would match for a Reforger exercise so there would have been a lot of flying...

On August 31st, 1989 the mascot of the squadron, a real parrot (Polly Grey IV), died. All flying activities where suspended for an indefinite period of time. NATO officers couldn't appreciate the gesture at all and demanded that flying would be resumed immediately. This order was only followed after an interim 'Polly' was found. On October 21st, 1989 a new parrot was accepted by the squadron as their new mascot. It was consequently named 'Polly Grey V'.

Seven weeks... anyway these guys feature in the books and got a mention in H-Hour, a story too good to be missed...

[Rob322]

Damn that's a great story! Hopefully it's not fully representative of how they'd handle war as opposed to an exercise! [:D][8D]

Thanks for the nice words!

[Rob322]

Getting back into it, five more East German bases with the bulk of the main combat bases for East Germany (I did Holzdorf some months ago).

Drewitz Air Base: Drewitz was an East German facility that hosted two units. The first was JBG-37 flying the Mig-23BN's in a strike role. This unit converted from Mig-17's around 1980 and had an inventory of 18 Mid-23BN's and 3 Mig-23UB's (two seat trainer version) as of 9/30/90, when the unit was absorbed into the Luftwaffe. The second unit was TAFS-87, a tactical reconnaissance unit flying Mig-21's. This squadron also disbanded in 1990.

Marxwalde Air Base: Marxwalde was an interesting facility. Also known as Neuhardenberg in some sources, it was home to JG-8, a fighter wing with 49 Mig-21's at the end of the Cold War. The base was also home to TFG-44, a transport wing with IL-62's, TU-154's, TU-134's and MI-8's and whose primary role seemed to be VIP transport for the upper echelons of the GDR leadership.

Neubrandenburg Air Base: Home to Fighter Wing 2 (JG-2), this wing was equipped with 51 Mig-21's and the time of the handover to the Luftwaffe. Apparently the East Germans were planning to convert the wing to Mig-29's at one point.

Peenemunde Air Base: The famous Peenemunde, a former seaplane base used by the Nazis to test their rocket program. After the war, the East Germans took over the base and flew 44 Mig-23's (ML/MF/UB types).

Preschen Air Base: Preschen Air Base was home to JG-3 and was the only Mig-29 East German unit. By 1990, two squadrons had converted and the wing therefore had 24 Mig-29's and 15 Mig-21's. After the Cold War, the Luftwaffe scrapped/sold off all the East German planes except for the Mig-29's and retained those for the Luftwaffe, with, at first, mostly former East German pilots who knew the airplane. The base was also home to TAFS-47, a recon unit with approximately 17 Mig-21's.

Enjoy!

[Rob322]

Here are the Soviet Airbases in Czechoslovakia at the end of the Cold War. Soviet units weren't stationed in Czechoslovakia until the invasion in 1968. By the end, they were stationed at three bases and made up the 131st Novgorodskaya Red Banner Mixed Aviation Division.

Milovice AB: Home to the 114th Fighter Aviation Regiment. In 1989, this unit flew approximately 45 Mig-23's. In the next year it would begin to transition to the Mig-29 but would soon return to the Soviet Union.

Mimon AB: Located in northern Czechoslovakia, Mimon was the station of the 236th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment, a Mig-27 regiment. It returned to Latvia (then a part of the Soviet Union of course) and disbanded in 1990.

Sliach AB: Sliach AB was located in the south near Bratislava. The base hosted the 100th Independent Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron and flew the SU-17M3R.

Next up, the bases of the Czech Air Force!