- Khodynka Field
Khodynka Field ( _ru. Ходынское поле, "Khodynskoye pole") is a large open space in the north-west of
Moscow , at the beginning of the present dayLeningradsky Prospect . It takes its name from the small Khodynka River which used to cross the neighbourhood. Major constructions on the field included the 19th century military barracks and the Botkin Hospital, the largest in Moscow at the time of its inauguration in 1910.Khodynka was the site of the first Russian powered flight, and became a regular airfield, in use through the late 1980s. The Russian National Air & Space Museum is at Khodynka.
In May 1896, prior to becoming an airfield, Khodynka field was the site of the ill-fated
coronation ofTsar Nicholas II . Astampede caused by a rumoured shortage in souvenir coronation mugs resulted in more than 1000 (some sources say 1500) people being trampled to death (seeKhodynka Tragedy ).Khodynka Tragedy
The field is best known as the site of a tragic
accident onMay 18 ,1896 during the festivities of the crowning of Nicholas II.In the area of one town square
buffoon eries,theater s, 150buffet s for distribution of gifts, and 20pub s were built for the celebrations. Nearby to the celebration square was a field which had a ravine and many gullies. On the evening of May 17th, people who had heard rumours of rich coronation gifts from thetsar (the gift was actually abread roll , a piece ofsausage ,gingerbread and amug ) began to gather in anticipation.At about 5 o'clock in the morning of the coronation day, several thousand people were already gathered on the field. A police force of 1800 men failed to maintain civil order, and in a catastrophic crush, and resulting panic to flee the scene, 1389 people were trampled to death and roughly 1300 were otherwise injured.
The negligence of the imperial authorities caused public indignation in Russia, and a number of minor officials were dismissed. However, the new Tsar did not cancel the coronation
ball scheduled for later that day. Many mystic writers in Russia say that deed predestined the death of Nicholas in Soviet Russia.Khodynka Airfield
The first flight in Russia took place at Khodynka, carried out in 1910 by
R. Rossinsky . In 1911, pilot Alexander Vasiliev landed hisBleriot XI there, becoming the only finisher of 11 pilots who started a 453 mile race from St.Petersburg to Moscow. Starting in the 1930s, the airfield played annual host to Aviation Day festivities, held on the third weekend in August.A. S. Yakovlev worked as a mechanic at the airfield for a time in the 1920s, and examined the wrecks of various aircraft present in the ravine near the field during work on his earliest powered
aircraft designs. [http://www.ctrl-c.liu.se/misc/ram/air-1.html]The airfield is surrounded by a variety of restricted-access facilities, including the main headquarters of
Aeroflot , design bureaus forIlyushin ,Mikoyan Gurevich (MiG),Sukhoi andYakovlev , the Aircraft Production Organization No. 30 (MAPO), andGRU headquarters ("the Aquarium"). The National Aviation and Space Museum (aka the National Aeronautics Museum or the Museum of the Air Forces) was on the airfield proper.Flights into or out of the airfield apparently continued to at least 1989 [http://ma.hit.bg/su27history/history2.html] , but the runways existed into the 2000s (see the Google maps link for an excellent satellite image of one of the runways apparently being torn up).
Current plans for the site include a modern air and space museum, expected to be the largest in the world upon completion. [http://www.royfc.com/acft_news_old_nov2.html]
The airfield is close to several stations on the
Moscow Metro , including Dinamo and Aeroport on theZamoskvoretskaya Line , andOktyabrskoe Pole on theTagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Line , which is named after Khodynka field.Modern developments
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness hoped to have the largest temple in Russia to be erected there, but this did not come to pass due to vocal opposition by theRussian Orthodox Church [http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?idr=530&id=626116] .Khodynka Arena , an ice sport palace, was opened on the Khodynka Field in 2006.External links
* [http://aeroweb.lucia.it/~agretch/Museums/Khodynka.html A 1995 review of the museum at Khodynka]
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/dews-pics/sets/1405727/ Photos of the Khodynka collection]
* [http://www.paulnann.com/location/Khodynka.htm More photos of the collection]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Moscow&ll=55.787192,37.532644&spn=0.01303,0.066605&t=k Google maps view of the airfield; note construction on south & west areas of field and apparent destruction of north-south runway underway. The stadium in the upper-right is Dinamo stadium.]
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