Željava Airport was an underground airport of the Yugoslav Air Force. It was located on the borders of today's Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, near the town of Bihać. The airport was used in the years 1968–1992. In the early 1990s, it was destroyed during the withdrawal of Yugoslav People's Army troops during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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The stamp and ink are part of the cache, please do not take.
History
The construction of the airport was decided in 1948, after the deterioration of relations between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. It was only in 1954, however, that the first projects of the new complex began to be worked out by the Yugoslav army, and construction work began on the ground in 1959. It was opened in 1968 and the total cost rose to 6 million dollars at the time. The inspiration for the object in Bosnia was the F 9 Säve airport in Sweden. A geomorphological survey of the site confirmed the suitable rock composition for tunneling; the area of western Bosnia was sufficiently inland and planes could take off covered by the radar shadow of Mount Plješevica.
Official Yugoslav sources referred to it under the code name Objekat 505 (Object 505). The complex became one of the most expensive to be built in Europe at the time. The area also included an early warning system against an enemy attack, which was located inside the Plješevica mountain. A total of 3.5 km of tunnels were excavated; it was possible to hide up to 58 aircraft inside the mountain in an M-shaped tunnel layout. The total capacity of the area was 100 aircraft. The system could be hermetically sealed and operated autonomously for thirty days. A 10 km long water main was also built to supply the base near the airport. There were a total of four entrances to the area. There were a significant number of missile launchers and radar stations around the airport itself.
The Yugoslav Air Force permanently stationed its 124th and 125th Fighter and 352nd Reconnaissance Squadrons. MiG-21, MiG-21bis and MiG-21R aircraft were stationed here. At the end of the 1980s, it was expected that these aircraft would replace the developed Yugoslav aircraft, which, however, due to the disintegration of the state, never entered the equipment of the Yugoslav Air Force.
Extinction
The airport was heavily used during the Yugoslav Wars in 1991 by the Yugoslav People's Army. Yugoslav planes took off here against helicopters controlled by the Croatian Ministry of the Interior. After the JLA was forced to withdraw, Yugoslav soldiers planted explosives at pre-selected locations on the airport's runways, making it impossible to operate. In May 1992, the troops of the Republic of Srpska completed the devastation of the airport.
After the breakup of Yugoslavia, the state border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina passes through the airport area. The reconstruction of the airport and the military base is not planned at all due to the necessary high costs. During the 1991–1995 war in Croatia, the area around the airport was heavily mined.
Airport today
The former airport is not under constant surveillance, so it attracts many military and history lovers to visit. Free movement in the vegetation around the airport is not recommended, the area is not completely cleared of mines that were placed there during the Croatian War of Independence.
Text and historical photo wikipedia, photo from May 2024 owner
My published caches in Croatia
3. Željava Air Base (Objekat 505)