Construction of Koltsovo's original aerodrome was between 1928-1930 by demand of the Air Force Institute of the USSR. It was primarily built as a military aerodrome. In 1932, the 33rd air division, priorly belonging to the Privolzhsky Military District, was transferred to the Koltsovo aerodrome; the division was later redirected to the border with Finland during the Winter War. One day after Nazi Germany declared war on the USSR, entangling the Soviet Union into World War II, construction of a 1 km runway was announced. Construction began the next day and the runway was completed in three months, a record breaking time for the 1940s.