In the summer of 2003, I happened to be in Moscow
when a friend called me and told me that I absolutely must appear at the
Khodynka airfield, nearly in the centre of the city, on 3 July. The Khodynka
airfield was established in 1910; it was a test airfield for the Soviet Air
Force (1920-32), a government airfield and then an airfield for the Ilyushin
design bureau and the Znamya Trucla production plant, manufacturing, among
others, the Il-38s. All Ilyushin aircraft, starting from the first TsKB-26 of
June 1935, made their maiden flights from Khodynka. At the beginning of the new
millennium, the airfield was already inactive; an elite housing estate was
being built and on the abandoned runway, hot-headed youngsters were organising
car and motorbike races.
An
upgraded Indian Il-38SD takes off for its maiden flight from Khodynka airfield
in Moscow on 3 July 2003. The ESM superstructure was removed for the first flight.
(Photos by Piotr Butowski)
On 3 July 2003, Khodynka returned to aviation life
for a few hours. The first upgraded Indian Il-38SD, IN305, was rolled out of
Ilyushin's hangar and then the preparations lasted for about an hour. The
aircraft took off with the minimum fuel load and without the dorsal box of ESM
to shorten the take-off roll. Passing round Moscow, the aircraft flew to
Zhukovsky, where it was finally equipped. The Il-38SD crew in this flight
comprised the aircraft commander Vladimir Irinarkhov, co-pilot Nikolai Kuimov,
navigator Valeri Grechko, flight engineer Alexei Zhuravlov, communication
operator Sergei Orlov and electrician Vladimir Lipkin.
After this flight, the Khodynka airfield was
ultimately closed. As such, I became one of few witnesses of the maiden flight
of the Il-38D aircraft and the last flight from the famous Khodynka airfield.
The
man himself! Piotr Butowski at Aero India Yelahanka in February 2019 (photo on
the right)