Plane Forgot: Aviation Treasures In A Ukrainian Airfield

This is Shyroke Airfield, a few kilometers from the eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhya. The airfield was once used to train Soviet pilots for civilian and combat roles.

After the fall of the U.S.S.R., however, funding for the airport ran dry and more than 100 aircraft, including these Antonov An-2 biplanes...

...nearly 60 L-29 Dolphin jets...

...and a handful of Mi-2 helicopters were all left to the elements.

Two of the Dolphin jets, which were used mostly for training but also saw combat. The caretaker of the airfield told RFE/RL that there are plans to reopen the airfield as a flying school.

The cockpit of a Dolphin jet showing a pilot's sunshade. In 2018, according to local media, a Ukrainian politician took control of the airfield, with plans to restore it and at least some of the aircraft inside.

Detail of damage to a Dolphin jet. According to local news reports, several of the planes were vandalized, and some portions of the airfield itself were stolen during the years that the base lay unguarded.

But most of the damage is due to the sun, rain, and snow over nearly three decades out in the open. Most of the canvas control surfaces of the Antonovs (pictured) have been shredded by the elements.

A tattered Antonov An-2 in the base. A local pilot who once flew at the school said he watched as the airstrip, with its "steel grandmas," fell into disrepair. "Day after day, we watched as everything died. It was terribly sad."

The inside of a Dolphin cockpit. The jets, made by a Czechoslovak company,  were designed to be rugged and reliable, and the base's security chief says some of the planes will be able to be refurbished back to flying condition.

But many of the Dolphins, a model that was first flown in 1959, are beyond repair.

The cockpit of an Mi-2 helicopter in the airfield. The lightly armed helicopters were first flown in 1961, and Mi-2s are probably still in use by the North Korean air force.

An air brake, deployed on a plane that probably hasn't flown for around three decades. 

The Soviet star on the tail of a Dolphin jet. The combined value of the aircraft and airfield has been estimated at around $1.8 million.