In Lithuania all airforce aircraft and helicopters are operated from Zokniai Airbase near Siauliai.
Some of the Mi-8T's however are on SAR Det. at Nemirseta, south of the city of Palanga near
the Baltic coast. Also a SAR station was established at Kaunas - Aleksotas.
Only one Mi-8T (24) still carries attractive high-viz colours. This was seen at Zokniai:
Also present at Zokniai are four stored Mi-8T's:
The transport fleet at Zokniai is now state of the art with the arrival of the
three C-27J Spartans. The three An-26's are wfu and are awaiting a buyer
at Zokniai. Other transport assets present are the old An-2 and the L-410UVP:
Jet operations are still conducted by the Lithuanian Airforce.
Two L-39ZA aircraft have replaced the L-39C's:
Much to our surprice, the Yak fleet is now also present at Zokniai.
Seen were two Yak-52 aircraft and a single Yak 18T:
Later we visited the Latvian airforce at Lielvarde Airbase.
The helicopter fleet consists of four Mi-17-1V's, two of these are now
at Helisota in Lithuania for overhaul. The remaining two (102 and 103)
were seen at Lielvarde. 102 is waiting for new rotorblades, reducing the
fleet to one Mi-17:
To our surprise, we were told that one Mi-2 (157) is probably returning to flight:
Temporarily stored is one L-410UVP:
We were told that some of the An-2's are still in airworthy condition and are operational:
I thank both airforces for having us. It was well worth it!
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