Darłowo  &  Swidwin,  24 August 1999

The first base visit was planned at the Polish Naval base Darłowo. At this base the Mi-14 fleet is stationed as well as some Mi-2s. After a long drive through the night we arrived at the main gate of Darłowo, but more than an hour late. We were lucky and were told to drive to the flightline by car in stead of the bus.

At the flightline some Mi-14s and a Mi-2 were parked. One of the Mi-14s even made a very small local flight for especially for us. When we left the flightline and drove back towards the main gate we saw more Mi-14s. It was very hard to read them out of the driving bus. But as we were driving in our own car we just made a short stop and read the other Mi-14s. Not a bad way to start our tour!

As it was still very early we decided to drive towards Swidwin to see some Fitters flying. At Darłowo we spoke with some English spotters who told us that the Fitters at Swidwin were flying from two till nine o’clock. They were right. When we finally found a nice spot in the landing area the first Su-22s were already starting up.

Just like most Soviet-build fighters, the Su-22 flies missions of forty minutes or even less. So after less than an hour the first Fitters already came back. We were able to take some pictures, but unfortunately the aircraft were still very high during landing.

Not much later in the middle of the recovery suddenly two trucks arrived with some 25 security guards with loaded AK-47s. They told us it was not allowed to watch of take pictures of the aircraft and the airbase. The English spotters told the guards they had permission of the base commander, however the guards were unable to confirm this as he was flying in one of the Fitters. After more than thirty minutes of negotiating we were allowed to stay and watch the Fitters, but we were not allowed to take pictures. 

Fortunately we kept our films so we still had some pictures of the Su-22s. Around five o’clock we decided to leave and drove towards Sławno where we booked an hotel. Here we had a nice meal together with at least fifteen other spotters who also stayed in the same hotel.