Europe's largest abandoned underground military air base

View on Google Maps

It used to be one of the largest military complexes in Europe but it was destructed to keep it from falling into the enemy's hands. Željava Air Base was built by Yugoslavia's communist government starting in 1948 just on the border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Known by the code name 'Objekat 505', construction took about 20 years and cost approximately $6 billion, making it one of the largest and most expensive military construction projects in Europe. Yugoslavia's communist government chose the site, below Mount Pljesevica, for its strategic location. The role of the facility was to establish, integrate, and coordinate a nationwide early warning radar network for Yugoslavia, similar to the American NORAD. With radars on top of the mountain, the base was built in an ideal location.

The facility had 5 runways and within the immediate vicinity of the base, there were numerous short-range mobile tracking and targeting radars, surface to air missile sites, mobile surface-to-air missile interceptor systems, and various other supporting facilities. 

What made this base special though were its underground facilities. The tunnels ran a total length of 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) and the bunker had four entrances protected by 100-ton pressurized doors, three of which were customized for use by fixed-wing aircraft. The complex included an underground water source, power generators, crew quarters and other strategic military facilities. It also housed a mess hall that could feed 1,000 people simultaneously, along with enough food, fuel, and arms to last 30 days without resupply. Fuel was supplied by a 20-kilometer (12.4 mile) underground pipe network.

The airbase was last used extensively during the Yugoslav Wars. In 1991, the Yugoslav People's Army destroyed the runways during its withdrawal by filling pre-built spaces for this purpose with explosives and detonating them. The destruction was completed the following year by the forces of the Military of Serbian Krajina which detonated an additional 56 tons of explosives, to make the facilities unusable by the enemies.

The destruction of the base caused serious environmental damage in the area. It is said that there are still undetonated explosives in the vicinity of the base and accidents have occurred periodically. Today the former military base serves as a waypoint for illegal immigrants while the local government has launched an initiative to use one of the runways as an airport.

Source

SEE ALSO: More abandoned military facilities around the world // More abandoned airports // More abandoned underground places // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES
For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter

(Click here for the full post)

Ballota/Wikimedia Commons

Hasan Zulic/Wikimedia Commons

Ballota/Wikimedia Commons

Ballota/Wikimedia Commons

journeytodesign.com

Deserted places on Alaska's Adak Island

View on Google Maps

Adak Island is part of Alaska's Aleutian Islands, where Bering Sea meets the northern Pacific Ocean. Harsh winds and cold temperatures make Adak Island an inhospitable land, however it has been home to Aleut peoples since ancient times. 

Due to its strategically important location, the United States military constructed a base and an airfield on the island during World War II. From there, fight operations against the Japanese began in September 1942. After the war was over, the approximately 6,000 American military men who served on Adak recalled its cold, foggy, windy weather; mud; Quonset huts; few women and no trees; and a volcano that from time to time would issue puffs of smoke. Fresh food was a rarity.

The military continued to have a presence on the island with Adak Naval Air Station which remained operational during the Cold War and finally closed in 1997. The closure of the base brought the population of the island down to 326 residents from a high of 6,000. Although the town of Adak was incorporated with the former base, many structures were left abandoned. 

Source

SEE ALSO: More abandoned military facilities around the world // More abandoned places on islands // More abandoned places in Alaska // More abandoned places in the United States // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES
For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter

(Click here for the full post)

Ben Huff/wired.com

Ben Huff/wired.com

Ben Huff/wired.com

Ben Huff/wired.com

Ben Huff/wired.com

The acoustic mirrors of the United Kingdom

During the 1930s, and leading up to World War II, the United Kingdom built a network of giant "acoustic mirrors" across its southern and eastern coast. The concrete structures, which differed in height and length, were an experimental early warning system. Built in the shape of spherical mirrors, they could reflecting and focus sound waves. Using them, military air defense forces could detect incoming enemy aircraft by listening for the sound of their engines.

The experimental nature of acoustic mirrors can be discerned by the different shapes of each of the three reflectors: one is a long, curved wall about 5 m (16 ft) high by 70 m (230 ft) long, while the other two are dish-shaped constructions approximately 4–5 m (13–16 ft) in diameter. Using microphones placed at the foci of the reflectors enabled a listener to detect the sound of aircraft far out over the English Channel. However, the increasing speed of aircraft during the 1930s, meant that they were detected when they were already too close (the system's range was about 25 miles) to deal with them.  

With the development of the Chain Home radar system at the beginning of World War II, the acoustic mirrors project was cancelled as it was now obsolete. Many of the acoustic mirrors built, stand till this day in coastal areas like at Denge on the Dungeness peninsula and at Hythe, Kent. Other examples exist in other parts of Britain (including Sunderland, Redcar, Boulby, Kilnsea). The only acoustic mirror constructed outside the UK, was built in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq in Malta. 

Source

SEE ALSO: More abandoned military facilities around the world // More abandoned places in the United Kingdom // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES 

For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter

(Click here for the full post)

Rob Riddle/flickr.com

Paul Russon/Wikimedia Commons

Paul Glazzard/Wikimedia Commons

Adrian Wynn/flickr.com

Doctor Chandra/flickr.com

Prora: Hitler's abandoned beach resort

View on Google Maps

The beach resort of Prora, on the island of Rügen, Germany, is known for 8 abandoned large structures, part of a Nazi-planned tourism project. Hitler envisioned an ambitious plan for a gigantic beach resort, the "most mighty and large one to ever have existed", under the ideal that every worker deserved a holiday in the sun. The resort would hold 20,000 beds, and in the middle a huge building was to be erected. The resort had to be convertible into a military hospital in the event of war. 

Building took place between 1936 and 1939 as a Strength Through Joy (Kraft durch Freude or KdF) project. The design competition was overseen by Adolf Hitler's chief architect Albert Speer and won by Clemens Klotz. According to the designs, all rooms were planned to overlook the sea, while corridors and sanitation are located on the land side. Each room of 5 by 2.5 metres (16 by 8 feet) was to have two beds, an armoire (wardrobe) and a sink. There were communal toilets, showers and ballrooms on each floor. The buildings extend over a length of 4.5 kilometres (2.7 miles) and are roughly 150 metres (500 feet) from the beach.

All major construction companies of the Reich and a total of 9,000 workers were involved in the project. However, with the onset of World War II, construction stopped. The eight housing blocks, the theatre and cinema stayed as empty shells, and the swimming pools and festival hall never materialized. During the Allied bombing campaign, many people from Hamburg took refuge in one of the housing blocks, and later refugees from the east of Germany were housed there. By the end of the war, these buildings housed female auxiliary personnel for the Luftwaffe.

After the war, the Soviet army took control of the area and established a military base at Prora, demolishing two buildings by the end of the 1940s. In the late 1950s the East German military rebuilt several of the buildings to house several National People's Army units. After German reunification, parts of the buildings were used from 1990 to 1992 by the Military Technical School of the Bundeswehr and from 1992 to 1994 to house asylum seekers from the Balkans. Beginning from the 90s large parts of the buildings were looted and vandalized, with the a exception of Block 3, Prora Center, which from 1995 to 2005 housed a variety of museums, special exhibitions, and a gallery.

Starting in 2004, the site has began being sold off individually for various uses. Some of them are to be converted into hotels, other into shops and apartments. A house for the elderly and a shopping center is also going to be built. 

Source

SEE ALSO: More abandoned military facilities around the world  // More abandoned places in Germany // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES 

For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter


(Click here for the full post)

Pixelteufel/Flickr/businessinsider.com

Wusel007/Wikimedia Commons

Wusel007/Wikimedia Commons

Alberto/flickr.com

Aviorausch/Wikimedia Commons

A rare abandoned Russian fighter jet

This rare abandoned Tu-128UT fighter jet was found in an aircraft repair plant in the Russian town of Rzhev by aviation photographer Marina Lystseva. Tupolev Tu-128UT (also known as Tu-28UT) is a training aircraft, based on the Tu-128 (also known as the Tu-28) interceptor. Only 10 of them have been built and this seems to be the only one remaining. 

Tupolev Tu-128 was developed in the late 1950's/early 1960's and introduced in 1964. The Soviets needed a new interceptor aircraft that could cover a large radius and combat NATO bombers like the American B-52, mainly during adverse weather conditions. TU-128, with a maximum weight of 43 tonnes, was the heaviest fighter to enter service. The Tu-128 was armed with four Bisnovat R-4 air-to-air missiles. A total of 198 aircraft had been built when production ended in 1970. It was finally retired in 1990. 

The Tu-128UT pictured below was a training variant of the Tu-128. Their main difference was that instead of a radar on the top, Tu-128UT featured a second cockpit, where the trainer would sit. Because of its shape, it was nicknamed 'the pelican' by the Soviets. 

SEE ALSO: More abandoned airplanes and airports around the world // More abandoned military sites // More abandoned places in Russia // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES 

For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter

(Click here for the full post)

fotografersha.livejournal.com

fotografersha.livejournal.com

fotografersha.livejournal.com

fotografersha.livejournal.com

fotografersha.livejournal.com

Skrunda-1: A Soviet ghost town in Latvia

View on Google Maps

The town of Skrunda-1 in modern day Latvia was of strategic importance to the Soviet Union. It was where two Dnepr radar installations were constructed in the 1960s. The two giant radars, having a length of 244 metres (801 ft) and height of 20 metres (66 ft) each, were one of the most important Soviet early warning radar stations for listening to objects in space and for tracking possible incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The town was comprised by 60 buildings, including apartment blocks, a school, barracks and an officers club. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, with an agreement signed in 1994, Latvia allowed the Russian Federation to continue running the radar station for 4 more years, after which it was obliged to dismantle the station within eighteen months. Before vacating Skrunda-1 in 1998, the Russian troops dismantled the site and all material of value were carried to Russia. Since then, Skrunda-1 is a ghost town.

In 2008, the Latvian government decided to sell the Skrunda-1 site and in 2010, the entire 40-hectare (99-acre) former town was sold as a single lot at auction in Riga. The winning bid was by a Russian firm for 3.1 million USD (2.2 million EUR). However, the winner as well as the runner up pulled out of the auction. In 2015, the site was bought by Skrunda Municipality for just €12,000 ($13,450). Half the area was handed over to the Latvian National Armed Forces as a training ground while the remainder is to be leased by the local government to potential investors for development. 

As of February 2016, due to increased interest at the site, the municipality began charging an entrance fee of 4 euros to individuals.

Source

SEE ALSO: More abandoned ghost towns around the world // More abandoned military facilities // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES 
For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter



(Click here for the full post)

FRAGGLEHUNTER/atlasobscura.com

FRAGGLEHUNTER/atlasobscura.com

FRAGGLEHUNTER/atlasobscura.com

FRAGGLEHUNTER/atlasobscura.com

thebohemianblog.com

Inside the abandoned Nazi Olympic village of Berlin

View on Google Maps

The 1936 Berlin Olympics hosted in Nazi Germany was home to the first permanent Olympic village in history, which today is the oldest one to be partially still standing.

Built in Wustermark, in the west edge of Berlin, the Olympic village hosted about 4,000 athletes from all over the world, guarded by men in Nazi uniforms. The athletes were impressed by the village, as each house had its own steward and there had never been a swimming pool before at an Olympic village.

Inside the "Restaurant of the Nations", the main eating hall, the athletes consumed 100 cows, 91 pigs, over 650 lambs, 8,000lb of coffee, 150,000lb of vegetables and 160,000 pints of milk during the 3 weeks of the Games. However, no alcohol was not served as Hitler himself was a teetotaler.

After the Olympics, the Olympic village became a hospital during World War II and with the fall of Nazi Germany it was captured by Soviet troops. The Soviets used it as a base for SMERSH torturers and KGB interrogators. Inside the main amphitheater a drawing of Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin overlooks the room where functions and cultural shows were held.

When the Soviets forces abandoned it in 1992, only 25 of the 145 original buildings of the Olympic village were still standing - including the crumbling swimming pool, gym, theater and dining hall. For the next 20 years the village fell in disrepair with most Germans ignoring it due to its connection with Nazism.

Its new owner however, DKB Bank, decided to restore it as an exhibition space. One part that was restored first was the original room of black American athlete Jesse Owens -No 5, in block 39- who became the star of the Games when he won 4 gold medals in front of Hitler, a man that considered him inferior because of his color.

Source

SEE ALSO: More abandoned Olympic venues around the world // More abandoned sport facilities // More abandoned swimming pools // More abandoned hospitals // More abandoned military facilities // More abandoned places in Germany // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES 

For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter

(Click here for the full post)

John MacDougall/ AFP/francetvinfo.fr

Sylvain Margaine/Forbidden-Places/techinsider.io

Sylvain Margaine/Forbidden-Places/techinsider.io

Sylvain Margaine/Forbidden-Places/techinsider.io

Roger Allen/dailymail.co.uk

The abandoned planes of Predannack Airfield

View on Google Maps

Predannack Airfield on Cornwall's Lizard peninsula opened in May 1941. It was one of the many Royal Air Force bases that opened at a time when the South West of England was vulnerable to attacks by the German Luftwaffe. The base itself was attacked several times by the Germans and the Royal Air Force initiated many defensive and offensive operations during the war including anti-shipping strikes over the Bay of Biscay.

By 1944 the base's personnel reached its peak strength of 3,600 but in 1946 the airfield closed, being reduced to Care and Maintenance. Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd used the base from 1951 to 1957 and in 1958 it was taken over by the Royal Navy that uses it until today as a practice base. Predannack is also home to RAF 626 Volunteer Gliding Squadron unit and is also used by ShelterBox disaster relief charity and a model flying club.

Part of the base has been turned into a plane cemetery where old military planes and helicopters are left to decay under the wet Cornwall weather.

Source

SEE ALSO: More abandoned military sites // More abandoned airports // More abandoned places in the United Kingdom // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES 
For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter




(Click here for the full post)

Ben Beech

Ben Beech

Ben Beech

Ben Beech

Ben Beech

An abandoned Soviet naval testing station in the Caspian Sea

This naval armament testing station is 2.7 kilometers (1.6 miles) away from the Caspian Sea shore, off the coast of Makhachkala in Dagestan, Russia. 

The station was built in 1939 but hasn't been used in a long time, being decommissioned by 1966. The underground part of the structure has a capacity of 530,000 cubic meters. 

Source

SEE ALSO: More abandoned military sites // More abandoned places in Russia // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES 
For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter


(Click here for the full post)

englishrussia.com

 

englishrussia.com

englishrussia.com

unp.me

englishrussia.com