1. OTOPENI AIRFIELD 2. ARTILLERY SCHOOL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R010900040004-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 21, 2006
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: March 13, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

wRe+ ev. 51-AMA
FEB 1952
A~a~~oved For Release 2006/03/18,: CIA-RDP82-004578010900040004-7
.~
CLASSIFICATION ~E~i'/CONTROL - U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
SECURITY INFORMATION
INFORMATION REPORT
CD N0.
COUNTRY Rumania
25X1. SUBJECT. 1. Otopeni .Airfield
2. Artillery School
DATE DISTR. 13 March 192
N0.OF PAGES 2
~~ ` ~~ ~ F ENCLS. 1
ST BELOHO
li t
SUPPLEMENT TO
OT CIRCULATE -REPORT No.
25X1
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATES, WITHIN THE MEANING OF TITLE 18, SECTIONS T99
AND 194, OF THE U.S. CODE, AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION OR REVE-
LATION OF ITS CONTENTS TO OR RECEIPT BY AN UNAUTMORILED PERSON IS
PROHIBITED BY LAW. THE REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM IS PgONIBITEO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
1. Sovromconstructia had six regional sections with the suffix "A";
"A" 1 was in Bucharest, and the others in different parts of Rumania.
Construction Team A 1 was one of the units working under Region "A"
1, and was employed on building a military airfield at Otopeni and
a school of artillery in the barrack area occupied by the Otopeni
Artillery Regiment. The airfield, which was military, and built for
the USSR, consisted of runways, fuel depots,.a train.nn Gchool far
pilots, accommodations and a club for officer$.. In October 1951,:
these were almost completed, and the building organization was about
to be withdrawn.- While the work was in process a number of barracks
were used for the workers;-these barracks were not dismantled after-
wards but used to house the Soviet guards employed at the airfield.
The S?viet pilots and soldiers were billeted in Otopeni village, whose
occupants had been evacuated, and also in a number of houses in the
immediate neighborhood of the airfield, whosR owners had likewise
been evacuated. The runway was approached (by means of a number of
roads, among them way the main Bucharest,Ploesti road) from the
Pilots' achool and its eiivlronF and from the old runway built by the
Germans during the war. These reads were all lnterc~Yinected. The
runway itself was three to four kms. long-and about is to 20 meters
wide.. It was. specially designed for jet planes which .came in .to land
at great speed and needed this distance to stop safely, though they
did not need so much space for the take-off. A special drainage sys-
tem had been installed. The airfield can be .lit at ni ht but over
is obtained from outside sources, possibly Otopeni. 25X1
0 exercises were carried out with jet planes at ni , and 25X1
the airfield was lit up for this purpose. (See appendix for sketch),
There were five or six hangars built by the Germans during the war,
which had semi-circular roofs. No other hangars had been built
since. Most of the hangars had been converted into workshops by the
Soviets,- who used them for the assembling of jet planes brought in
sections. The planes themselves stood on the roads leading to the
runway.
CLASSIFICATION .. +T/CON - S OFFICIAL
Approved For Release 2006/03/18: CIA-RDP82-004
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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2. About-half the height of the fuel depots at the Otopeni airfield
was above ground. The depots consisted of reservoirs holding 1~O to
50 tons of fuel each, built of large sheets of steel. In October
1951, between 20 and 30 such reservoirs had been constructed, but
they were still being covered with soil for protection. The barracks
that were constructed at the airport ace?tnmodated about l~,000 to 5,000
workers of the labor battalions working on the alr?2'ieJ.r..
The Otopeni Artillery Regiment was stationed at the entrance to the
village and on the right of the road to Otopeni from Bucharest, near
the railroad track that crosses the main Bucharest-Ploesti road. The
school, in the barrack area, consisted of a basement, ground. floor
and two upper stories, and was built round a square in order to obtain
a maximum of light. In addition to the school itself two sheds for
guns were built, each of them 100 meters long and 40 to 50 meters
wide. The roofs wera semi-circular.
4. another airfield for jet planes
or t e na.an forces, si ua ed sou h of Bucharest. Rumanian planes
were assembled there, and these differed from the Soviet planes in
having straight wings, while those of .the Soviet planes were sloped
backward. Between 20 and 30 jet planes had been brought by the Soviets
and assembled on the airfield by October 1951.
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Approved For Release 2006/03/18: CIA-RDP82-004578010900040004-7
 Approved .For Release ~( ~$~ ~~t-?fj ~~~2-004578010900040004-7
~~ t i v t' L r'`1i [...
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Legend to Appendix
1. Bucharest-Ploesti higYrvray, arrow points north.
2. Pilots' School, 20G to 300 meters from the highway.
3. Arrow paints towards Otopeni, five or six eons. down the x?oad from the.
p'ilots' School.
~.. road passing the 1'il~lts' School.
5. ~ioad u. ed uy the 'a;~ilding workers t,o enter the airfield, 1~OC to X00
meters -north of the r'il_ots 9 Sch~aol. The runway began south of -this
road..
6. Point $00 meters from the h~.ghway down the Pilots' School road, at
which network of small roads leading to the runway beg.~~n.
7. D:i_stane~~ of 300 to 1.00 meters to the runway from point referred to in
6.above, along cont~.r~.uation of the same .road. It was by means of this
.calculation that source; estimated the distance of the runway from the
main road.
$. The old ?runway built b;,r thy: Germans, which has been trodden down and.
is crossed by a n',srnber of small roads leading to the new runway.
not sure of the location or the direction of this rrgnway,
but said, is was_its approximate placing with respect to the Pilots'
.School. It is possible th-a.t it runs parallel to the new runway, and
not obliquely ta4vards -?t.
g. The old German hangars.
l0. Fi~Te or six barracks already occupied by the Soviets.
l1. TJnknown li~~nber of barracks, also occupied by .the Soviets.
1~:. Uz~Tenown number of barracks which in Oetober 1951 were still . Railro3cT siding, 300 to L,.00 miters from the runway at same level as
the road from the Pilots' School.
lE~. Towards station (name not knovrn) with vahich the siding is connected.
CONFl~ENTlAL
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Approved For Release 2006/03/18 :CIA-RDP82=004578010900040004-7
 Approved For Release 200G/03/1 ~~ ~~~4-EdDP$2 ~0457R010900040004-7
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Appendix
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Approved For Release 2006/03/18 :CIA-RDP82-004578010900040004-7