Soviet and Afghan technical crew and the 380th Afghan Hellicopter Squadron’s Mi-8T hellicopter at Dehdadi airport in the early eighties.

Mazar-i-Sharif was the regional hub of northern Afghanistan, located in close proximity Sovietunion border. The city was spared the devastation of the Soviet-Afghan war, and was long regarded as one of the safest cities in the country.

In this safe city, far from the conflict zone, the soldiers of the Soviet Syzran Military College served. Compared to their comrades in other parts of Afghanistan, they lived in almost luxurious conditions in the early eighties.

Soviet trainers in front of the 3rd squadron of the 393rd Training Air Regiment and the 380th Afghan Helicopter Squadron’s Mi-8T helicopters at Dehdadi airport in the early eighties.

In 1980, the training of helicopter pilots also started at the Afghan 363rd Training Air Regiment. The Soviet Union provided Mi-8T ‘Hip-C’ helicopters and training personnel.

The 131st and 626th regiments of the Soviet Syzran Military Aviation College delivered the first 15 Mi-8T ‘Hip-C’ helicopters to Mazar-i-Sharif airport in February 1980. Soviet personnel initially handed over the helicopters and then began training Afghan pilots. The first major Soviet group trained the crews of two new Afghan helicopter squadrons in their Mi-8T helicopters until 5 July 1980, before returning home.

At this time, the third squadron of the 393rd Regiment of the Afghan Air Force was formed, which later trained young Afghan helicopter pilots. As well as they also laid the foundations for the new 380th Helicopter Squadron, which later undertook combat missions in the north of Afghanistan.

The two Afghan helicopter squadrons received large numbers of Soviet secon-hand Mi-8 helicopters from the Soviet Union in the first half of the 1980s. But also from Kabul came old Afghan Mi-8s too, which originally arrived in Afghanistan in the early 1970s.

Soviet Syzran Military Aviation College’s trainers and advisers at Mazar-i-Sharif and Dehdadi airfields in Afghanistan in the first half of the 1980s.

The life in the Mazar-i-Sharif city:

Mazar-i-Sharif airport was built by the United States of America in the early 1960s. The picture shows a Soviet An-12 ‘Cub’ transport aircraft standing in front of the tower, while the photographer stands next to a MiG-17.

The Soviet training personnel were transported by bus on the 25-kilometre route between Mazar-i-Sharif and Dehdadi airfield

The second major Soviet training group arrived at Mazar-i-Sharif airfield from the Soviet Syzran Military Aviation College in January 1981 and they worked in Afghanistan until February 1983. Later, until 1988, a small number of Soviet advisers and trainers served here in support of local Afghan helicopter forces over northern Afghanistan.

Photos:Nikolay Baskatov,  Valeriy Tayjana and Ivan Pilnikov collections

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