Željava MIG Factory
Željava Airbase, situated on the border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina under Plješevica Mountain, near the city of Bihać, Bosnia, was the largest underground airport and military airbase in the former Yugoslavia, and one of the largest in Europe. Construction of the Željava or Bihać Airbase, code-named "Objekat 505", began in 1948 and was completed in 1968. During those two decades, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia spent approximately $6 billion dollars on its construction, three times the combined current annual military budgets of Serbia and Croatia. It was one of the largest and most expensive military construction projects in Europe.
The underground facility was lined with semicircular concrete shields, arranged every ten meters, to cushion the impact of incoming munitions. The complex included an underground water source, power generators, crew quarters, and other strategic military facilities. It also housed a mess hall that could feed 1,000 people simultaneously, along with enough food, fuel, and arms to last 30 days without resupply. Fuel was supplied by a 20-kilometer underground pipe network that ran from a military warehouse on Pokoj Hill near Bihać.
The underground facility was lined with semicircular concrete shields, arranged every ten meters, to cushion the impact of incoming munitions. The complex included an underground water source, power generators, crew quarters, and other strategic military facilities. It also housed a mess hall that could feed 1,000 people simultaneously, along with enough food, fuel, and arms to last 30 days without resupply. Fuel was supplied by a 20-kilometer underground pipe network that ran from a military warehouse on Pokoj Hill near Bihać.
