The airfield at Ianca was first established in 1941 when a squadron was deployed there to carry out missions in support of the
military actions in Bessarabia. After the war, on 28 March 1951, the 3rd Fighter Aviation Division with the 11th, 12th, and 14th Regiments was created at the airfield. At the same time,
Soviet equipment was brought to the base, and command and observation points,
hangars airplanes, and
barracks, as well as a concrete runway were built. During the same month, the unit was equipped with
Yak-23 and
Yak-17 jets which were brought in and assembled by Soviet technicians and were tested by Soviet pilots. Later, Romanian pilots began also training, and in less than two weeks, the first pilots performed 6 flights on twin-seat airplanes with Soviet instructors. The first flight on a single seat
Yak-23 was done by Major Aurel Răican on 26 June 1951. In July 1953, the 206th Fighter Aviation Regiment initially formed at
Deveselu was transferred to Ianca, where it was equipped with the
MiG-17PF. It remained at the base until 1958, when it was moved to the
Borcea aerodrome. In 1965, the 49th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment was moved from the
Alexeni airfield to Ianca.
After 1989 The last MiG-15s of the air base were retired in 1990. During the 1990s, the 49th Air Base also retired its
IAR 93 aircraft and transferred a number of
IAR 99s to
67th Air Base from
Craiova. After the transfer, the base received several
L-39ZA trainers from
Boboc. These airplanes were returned by 1998, and the base remained operating only IAR 99s. Eventually, the base was disbanded, with the IARs being sent to Craiova, and the airfield was used for storage. In 2009, the airfield was taken from the Ministry of Defence by the County Council with plans to build a civilian airport. These plans never materialized, and on 27 July 2022, the administration of the airfield was given to the Romanian Aeroclub. The current plans are to establish a territorial aeroclub at Ianca. ==First interception mission==