Greem Bell

Greem Bell is an ice airfield in Ostrov Greem-Bell, Russia located 1372 km north of Khatanga. It used the internal callsign XLDG. At latitude 81°N, it is Russia's northernmost airfield. This ice airfield was operational only during the winter months, roughly from the end of November to the beginning of March.

It was created in the late 1950s as a possible staging base for Soviet bombers to reach the U.S. It fell under the jurisdiction of the interceptor aircraft regiment from Rogachevo (Novaya Zemlya) and was maintained by OGA (Arctic Control Group), the Russian Air Force agency which maintains forward strategic deployment bases. In March 1978 4 Tu-128 (Fiddler) of 72 Gv IAP (72nd Guards Interceptor Aviation Regiment) from Amderma were based here for a one-month deployment. From the early 1980s into the 1990s it was regularly visited by Su-27 (Flanker) and MiG-31 (Foxhound) aircraft of the 10 OA (10th Air Army) PVO Arkhangelsk. Before it was shut down it was also used for tourist helicopter trips around the Russian arctic as a stopover and refueling base. The base was shut down completely in 1994. Today it is unused and falling into ruins which has closed Graham Bell Island to normal visitors. A Russian scientific expedition inspected the site in autumn of 2004 and found isolated instances of PCB contamination from discarded chemical drums.