I first discovered Bozi Dar Airfield from a Vice article describing a completely forgotten soviet airfield and town not far from Prague in Czech Republic. To re-word/summarise the article:
The airfield has been used by the Austro-Hungarian military and the Luftwaffe, but most significantly it was taken over by the Soviets in 1968 as a base for their Central Group of Forces, and was only handed back to the Czechs in 1992. The Soviets built themselves a small town, called Bozi Dar, right next to the base and completely fenced it off from the outside world - the nearest town being Milovice who were supposedly completely oblivious to Bozi Dar's existence. Base operations were kept Top Secret, so much so that Milovice's sewage treatment plant was shut down at one point because they feared the volume of extra waste might give away the size of the population living at Bozi Dar.
It would seem that the town was completely self-sufficient, with it's own power plant, farming land and underground reservoir. Apparently, there was a stockpile of nuclear weapons kept as Bozi Dar during the Soviets time their, yet it has not been proven (and we certainly didn't find any). When the last Russian aircraft left the site in 1991, the area was left in an open and unguarded state, and was quickly looted of everything and anything. It would appear that even to this day, nobody wants to claim it and guard it - it all seems very open and inviting.
This airfield has a 2.5km landing strip, air traffic control tower, multiple hangars and various outbuildings, and during our visit, not once did we see one single sign to warn off explorers - no fence to climb, no barbed wire fences.
There is lots to see, but everything is quite spaced out so if you do plan a visit, be prepared for a walk! We didn't have time to make it into Bozi Dar itself, but we did have a good look around the airfield and what that had to offer. Currently, it seems the airfield is used privately for flying lessons/experiences (?) in small aircraft, but nobody even batted an eyelid during the whole day we were there. We did have one guy approach us on a quad bike to see what we were up to, but once we explained our intentions, he left us to it and seemed ok with us being there.
Here's a few of our best shots:
The airfield has been used by the Austro-Hungarian military and the Luftwaffe, but most significantly it was taken over by the Soviets in 1968 as a base for their Central Group of Forces, and was only handed back to the Czechs in 1992. The Soviets built themselves a small town, called Bozi Dar, right next to the base and completely fenced it off from the outside world - the nearest town being Milovice who were supposedly completely oblivious to Bozi Dar's existence. Base operations were kept Top Secret, so much so that Milovice's sewage treatment plant was shut down at one point because they feared the volume of extra waste might give away the size of the population living at Bozi Dar.
It would seem that the town was completely self-sufficient, with it's own power plant, farming land and underground reservoir. Apparently, there was a stockpile of nuclear weapons kept as Bozi Dar during the Soviets time their, yet it has not been proven (and we certainly didn't find any). When the last Russian aircraft left the site in 1991, the area was left in an open and unguarded state, and was quickly looted of everything and anything. It would appear that even to this day, nobody wants to claim it and guard it - it all seems very open and inviting.
This airfield has a 2.5km landing strip, air traffic control tower, multiple hangars and various outbuildings, and during our visit, not once did we see one single sign to warn off explorers - no fence to climb, no barbed wire fences.
There is lots to see, but everything is quite spaced out so if you do plan a visit, be prepared for a walk! We didn't have time to make it into Bozi Dar itself, but we did have a good look around the airfield and what that had to offer. Currently, it seems the airfield is used privately for flying lessons/experiences (?) in small aircraft, but nobody even batted an eyelid during the whole day we were there. We did have one guy approach us on a quad bike to see what we were up to, but once we explained our intentions, he left us to it and seemed ok with us being there.
Here's a few of our best shots:
