BATAS AND JUANLEPAYA AIRFIELDS IN AND AROUND LEPAYA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A007400630003-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 2, 2008
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: July 19, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United Stalls within the meaning of the iplonage 4". Title
18, U.S.C. Seca. 799 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which In any manner to an unauthorised person Is prohibited' ,by law.
REPORT
DATE DISTR.
NO. OF PAGES
COUNTRY USSR (Latvian SSR)
SUBJECT Batas and Jaunlepaya
Airfields in and around Lapaya
DATE OF INFO.
PLACE ACQUIRED
DATE ACQUIRED
all
5
Batas Air fi
1. The Batas Airfield (sic), located at the northilat and of Lwpaya Lakes, was ex-
panded to the sliest and east after 19115, asking it about tidoe as lcmg as
before (see sketch No. 1, p.4 ).. A new road, running in a wide curve along the
eastern border, replaced the old road which ran along the eastern side of the
airfield.
2. A hangar built in 1940 or 1941 was located at the northwest and of the field.
It was 120-150 meters long and about 80 meters wider and it was not as high as
the meteorological station. The black hangar roof was probably covered with
tar paper.
3. The meteorological station,, the highest building on the airfield, was located
east of the hangar. It was 2+-3-story red brick with a wind cone and a wind
rose on its slanting roof.
It. i,;ast of this building were the round and square fuel tanks.2 These tanks were
located in a 200x200 meter area enclosed by barbed wire and were not as high
as the meteorological station.
5. The pumping station was in a 10x10-meter one-story building located between
the airfield and the lake. Its function was to keep the airfield dry. An
earth bank j meter high was also located here.
6. Pilots lived in some five two-story houses north of the hangar. The yellow
brick houses had either grey slate or tar paper roofs.
7. A wide circular area in front of the hangar was concrete. The airfield was
otherwise only sodded. Strong air currents from MIOs0 i.e.,jet fighters,
caused clouds of dust when they took off.
8. Two concrete runways were being built in the southeast part of the airfield
in the summer of 1952. Only 15 to 20 meters of each runway were completed
by the end, of 1952.
ARMY NAVY AIR FBI AEC
(Notoi Washington distribution indicated by "X"j Field distribution by
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fall of 1952t
the following types of aircraft at Batas Airfield in the
a. Two-engine propeller-driven bombers which source had seen in Soviet air
attacks on #epaya during World War II.
b. A short and long type of single-engine propeller-driven fighter plane also
observed during World War II.
co MIOc.
d. A few twin-tailed planes rarely ser, some kukuruzniki biplanes (sic), well
known during the last war, and others.
9. There were about 15 MIQs at Batas Airfield,and this number remained fairly
constant, these planes were usually kept in the hangar. 25X1
However, up to 30 MIOs and up to 30 bombers had been observed over Lepaya
during alarms. Other types of planes had also been seen in greater numbers
during these frequent alarms. Source did not know where the planes came from]
but,when the alarm was over, they would disappear.
10. The hangar was too small to house all of the airplanes, so that many of them
were seen on the west side of the airfield and also near the fuel tanks on the
northwest side of the field. The planes not in the hangar were covered with
tarpaulin during the winter.
11. Planes took off and landed in a west-east or east-west direction.
Leaving the ground at about 700 meters, or at the middle of the
12.I bo searchlights at night at the airfield, but he did see both red and
white flares shot up during landings. No guards wero Been at the field, and
there was no barbed wire around the plaoe.
13. Some disassembled MIAs sere unloaded at the naval port from r ailroad cars
on the unloading ramp about 200 meters south of the large water tower of the
naval port in the late fall of 1952. The MIGs were th
trucks to the Batas Airfield over a period of one week.
these disassembled MIGS were stored in the airfield hangar, Since they were not
seen anywhere else on the field. The continuous truck traffic during that
week from the naval port a large number of NMs
na
Ja
---
iii, i ii7l iot- SP- alpaka airfield, located near the ralpaka B^idge at the
Naw1HK'bcrCsnal, kAd not been enlarged or repaired since the war. This
air.t'. uA w&s o.1 minor military imports.,-ice,,4 ince it as used mainly by civil
air transport planes and since cows were pdrmitted tr graze freely at the
southeast corner of the field (see sketch No. 2,,.p. 5).
15. A hangar built during the Latvian period was on the north side of the airfield,
and a hangar formerly belonging to the Aizsargu Air Force (Latvian National
Guard) was located next to it. Two concrete 200-300-meter runways running
north-south and parallel to Sarkanarmijas iela were opposite these hangars.
The runways ended in front of a new, ?phalted street which ran from Krumu
ieln9 crossed iltenes iela, and joined Sarkanarmijas ie]a.
the width of the airfield to be about 200 meters. The airfield
e-ir- :l Herr the curve of a road which came from the east and ran parallel to the
b val Hutos- Can1al. The road turned off in the direction of the bridge beyond
one rnun:ii.ion warehouses. Soldiers in infantry uniforms guarded these old
c, ;~ re to munition warehouses.
17. A ten-meter-high rectangular concrete tower built during the Latvian period
was located between Sarkanarmijas isle and the roadstead. Its purpose was
unknown.
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18. Kukuruzniki biplanes, carrying two passengers and the pilot,operated between
Kalpa6 A ~rfield and Riga in the years following the Soviet occupation of the
country. The flight from T,epaya to Ri for anyone who had money for the
tickets cost 65 rubles, gathe cost of the airplane ticket - 25X1
since it was twice as ,,uch as the 37-ruble railroad ticket. (sic). These flights
between Lepaya and Riga were later made by large twin-engine planes, which
sometimes were forced by weather conditions to land at Batas Airfield.
Comments
1. Batas Airfield is usually refereed to as Lepaya East Airfield.
2,
where no fuel tanks were observed at Batas Airfield.
3. The kukuru$nik biplane is probably another name for the three-seater
p0-2bipl ne.
4. Jaunlepaya Airfield is usually referred %o as Lepaya North Airfield.
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