Iswahjudi Air Force Base, Iswahjudi Airport or Iswahjudi Airbase is an airbase operated by the Indonesian Air Force. It is the main base of several squadrons of Indonesian jet fighters, including:
3rd Air Squadron "Sarang Naga" (Dragon's Nest), equipped with F-16AM/BM (previously F-16A/B Block 15 OCU) 14th Air Squadron "The Eagles", equipped with F-16C/D Block 52ID (previously F-5E/F-5F and Sukhoi Su-27/30 as a stopgap) 15th Air Squadron "The Typhoons", equipped with KAI T-50i Golden Eagle (previously Hawk 53)
The airbase is located at Maospati, Magetan, near the city of Madiun on the west side of East Javan capital Surabaya. It is named after Iswahjudi, an Indonesian air force officer who, together with Halim Perdanakusuma, was killed in an air crash while returning to Indonesia from Thailand in 1947.
Currently, the airport is not used for civilian flights.
Geographic
This airbase is located at coordinates 111° 26'02.82" east longitude and 07° 36' 56.76" south latitude, Maospati District, Magetan Regency, East Java. Maospati is located at a fork in the highway that connects Madiun City, Magetan Regency and Ngawi Regency. In the west there is Mount Lawu with a height of 10,712 feet; in the east there is the Mount Wilis with a peak of 8,400 feet; in the south it stretches the land of the mountains to the South Sea; and in the north is a wide lowland.
History
Dutch East Indies
In 1890, in Batavia and Aceh, flights using "ballonvaarten" balloons were successfully carreid out. This is the first experiment conducted by Koninklijk Nederlandsch-Indische Leger (KNIL) in aerospace. and then the Dutch East Indies government began to develop it. In February 1913, a test flight was conducted in Surabaya with an airplane transported from the Netherlands by ship. And when World War I broke out, it became increasingly necessary to build up the strength of the Air Force.
On May 30, 1914, the Royal Netherlands Air Force embryo was established under the name Proefvliegafdeling (PVA) or the Flight Test Department. Then on March 31, 1939, the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force or better known as Militaire Luchtvaart (ML) was established in Kalijati, Subang, West Java. And also established Marine Luchtvaart Dienst (MLD) in Surabaya. Both of them only prioritized training Dutch soldiers.
Around 1939, the Dutch began to build the Maospati Air Base (PAU Maospati), with a size of 1,586 X 53 meters, and is located at an altitude of 120 meters above sea level. This base was built as part of the preparation of the Dutch Van Ooorlog department (Ministry of War - Netherlands) to deal with Japanese air attacks, so that it could immediately accommodate Militaire Luchtvaart aircraft.
The construction of this air base required a large area of land, so there was a forced displacement of the population from the following villages:
Ngujung Village, Maospati, Magetan, completely relocated
Setren Village, some of the rice fields have been moved
Kleco Village, some of the rice fields have been moved
Lemahbang Village, completely relocated
Kinandang Village, completely relocated
Kincang Kulon Village, completely relocated
Pandeyan village, residents of the village in the southern part were moved, and moved to the area that is now the village of Bogorejo, West, Magetan Mranggen Village, the villagers in the southern part were moved
Residents who have received compensation money have moved voluntarily, and there are several villages that have moved entirely (bedol desa). Like the residents of Pandeyan village, they moved to the north of the main road and occupied the village of Bogorejo and village of Ronowijayan to become the village of Sukolilo. After the residents moved, the construction of the air base began in 1939. The runway was the first thing built. Then proceed with the construction of three hangars in the Klecorejo, Setren and Ngujung areas. Then, they built a workshop building (now the 042 Engineering Squadron hangar), a montage building near the workshop, four warehouses, a workshop and others. The development was continued by building offices, military dormitories (campement) for Dutch soldiers and their families.
Construction of the Maospati PAU was completed at the end of May 1940. The base was officially opened with the deployment of three air squadrons:
One fighter squadron, 13 Curtiss 75A-7 Hawks, since 1 February 1941
Two squadrons of fighter, 17 Curtiss Wright 21B Interceptor aircraft, since late 1941 One training squadron, with a capacity of 6 Brewster F2A Buffalo aircraft
A total of 36 aircraft were divided into the three air squadrons.