Hopsten Air Base
| Hopsten Air Base | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Characteristics | |||
| ICAO code | ETNP | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Height above MSL | 35 m (115 ft ) | ||
| Transport links | |||
| Distance from the city center | 5 km southwest of Hopsten | ||
| Basic data | |||
| opening | 1938 | ||
| closure | 2006 | ||
| surface | 306 ha | ||
| Start-and runway | |||
| 01/19 | 3000 m × 30 m concrete | ||
The Hopsten AB (ICAO code ETNP ) is a former airbase of the German air force in northern North Rhine-Westphalia between Hopsten and Dreierwalde in Tecklenburger country . The Jagdgeschwader 72 "Westfalen" and, most recently, the flight training center F-4F for the McDonnell F-4 "Phantom II" were stationed there .
history
Beginnings until 1945
The history of the air base goes back to the time before the Second World War , when it was already used as a field airfield . In 1938 the construction of a relatively small air base with 200 hectares began. This construction, called “Rheiner Bauabschnitt 2”, was given three runways: a paved main runway with a length of 1800 m in east-west direction and two shorter, unpaved runways especially for fighter planes in north-south and south-west-north-east direction each with a length of 1000 m. The air base was completed in 1939, the official commissioning on October 25, 1939. However, there were problems with the naming, as the residents of the Dreierwalde community refused to consent to the use of the name "Dreiwalde Air Base". It was only after the continuous expansion between 1940 and 1944, when the main runway was extended to 3000 m, that the land of the Hopsten community was included, that the air base was given its final name.
As the first unit, the I. Group of Jagdgeschwader 27 moved with a total of 48 Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-1s from Handorf to Hopsten. It was to be just one of many units that were only stationed there for a short time during the war years between 1940 and 1944, because the air base was unfavorably located due to the course of the war. It was not until the withdrawal of the German troops and the advance of the Allies from the second half of 1944 that it moved back into the focus of military interest as a favorable location for the “Reich defense”. Correspondingly, the Kampfgeschwader 51 moved “Edelweiß” to Hopsten in September 1944 and flew attacks from here with their Messerschmitt Me 262s . As a further unit equipped with jet aircraft, the 6./Kampfgeschwader 76 with Arado Ar 234 also moved to the air base in December 1944 .
Towards the end of the war, the air base in Hopsten was increasingly the target of Allied air raids, but was never seriously damaged, due to the strong air defense in the immediate vicinity and the repairs carried out quickly. When the end of the war became apparent, the Kampfgeschwader 51 relocated “Edelweiss” to Giebelstadt on March 30, 1945 . Until the withdrawal of the Wehrmacht in April, Jagdgeschwader 26 and 27 with their Messerschmitt Bf 109 G / K and parts of Night Wing 1 with Messerschmitt Bf 110 and Heinkel He 219 were stationed in Hopsten. During the retreat, the air base was blown up and on April 6, 1945 handed over to the Allied troops without a fight, which they designated as Airfield B.112 . In April / May 1945 took the second Tactical Air Force of the Royal Air Force , namely the 3rd , 56th , 80th , 137th , 181st , 182nd and 247th Squadron and the 486th Squadron ( RNZAF ) the Place for a few days or weeks. The British then handed over the land, which had become unusable, to the neighboring population for agricultural use.
1945 to the end
It was not until 1959 that the Federal Ministry of Defense decided to build a new base on the site of the old air base. It was built on an area of 306 hectares and was built with funds from NATO according to the most modern NATO standards at the time. The runway was built with a length of 3000 m and 30 m width in north-south direction and overlapped with the runways of the old air base. The staff and accommodation buildings were built in the nearby town of Rheine . In April 1961, an advance command of Fighter Bomber Wing 31 moved from Nörvenich to Hopsten with the preparations for the commissioning of Fighter Bomber Wing 36 (JaboG 36). This was put into service on December 12, 1961 by the then Inspector of the Air Force , Lieutenant General Josef Kammhuber , with over 50 Republic F-84 F “Thunderstreak” aircraft in Hopsten.
On February 2, 1965, the first starfighter landed on the air base in Hopsten, with which the fighter-bomber squadron was equipped for the next two years. At the same time, more than 100 US soldiers were relocated to Hopsten as part of the "Flexible Response" doctrine, who would have had to equip the starfighters with tactical nuclear weapons in the event of a defense. For this purpose, a highly secured QRA ( Quick Reaction Alert ) area was created, where two machines that were ready to go were kept available around the clock. Until the abandonment of the NATO doctrine in 1972, the nuclear weapons themselves were stored about 3 kilometers away in the Uthuisen ammunition dump.
On February 4, 1975, the first McDonnell F-4 “Phantom II” of the fighter-bomber squadron landed in Hopsten. At the end of July 1976, all starfighters had been replaced by the Phantom. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification in 1990, JaboG 36 was converted into a pure Jagdgeschwader 72, but remained stationed at the Hopsten air base. On May 24, 1991 a special guest was present in Hopsten with the MiG-29 . In 1999 the new 23 meter high tower was built. A total of DM 6 million was spent on the tower.
With the announcement of the new Air Force structure 5, the fate of the air base was sealed: The fighter squadron based in Hopsten was to be dissolved. The last QRA mission was on January 7, 2002. Shortly before the fighter squadron was finally decommissioned, he was given a new assignment, which delayed the end a little longer. Until mid-2006, the former 2nd squadron of the fighter squadron served as the newly formed "F-4F flight training center" at Hopsten air base. The last flight took place on December 15, 2005, when the landing of a jet black painted Phantom sealed the end. The remaining airworthy machines were then flown out in 2006.
The Lower Saxony part of the noise protection area of the Hopsten military airfield was abolished in May 2016.
Current usage
The Krone vehicle plant in Werlte is currently using the runway as a storage area for their truck trailers. At times, part of the railway was used as a driving safety system . However, since the area was declared a protected area after sighting a rare species of bird, the FAZ ceased operations on the area.
The German rock band Rozencrantz used the site in March 2009 as a filming location for their music video Chase the Dragon . In autumn 2009, RTL used the site to shoot some scenes from the television film Hindenburg .
Current plans
In April 2019, the city of Hörstel decided to acquire the southern part of the former NATO base with a size of around 100 hectares. A forensic state clinic is to be built on around 40 hectares in the south-eastern part. Before the COVID-19 pandemic , the groundbreaking was planned for the second half of 2020. 25 hectares of the site are to be designated as an industrial park; At this point in time (as of March 2020), 21 buildings have already been leased to private companies. In addition, an energy and innovation park is to be built on the remaining 35 hectares of the site. For the first development measures, costs of 4.5 million euros were estimated, in which the state of North Rhine-Westphalia contributed 2.8 million euros. According to the city of Hörstel, costs “well over” than 10 million euros are expected in the long term.
Incidents
- On January 4, 1966, a Douglas DC-3 / C-47B-25-DK of the Luftwaffe ( aircraft registration number XA + 118 ) at Hopsten Air Base was irreparably damaged. The crew was unharmed.
Web links
- History, pictures and videos of the air base and the stationed squadron ( Memento from February 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- Chronicle of Hopsten Air Base. Traditionsgemeinschaft Westfalengeschwader, accessed on March 31, 2019 .
Individual evidence
- ^ In Ibbenbürener Volkszeitung on August 20, 1999: Progress in technology gives the squadron a new tower.
- ↑ Lower Saxony Ordinance on the Abolition of the Noise Protection Area for the Hopsten Military Airfield of May 13, 2016, in: Niedersächsisches Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt No. 5/2016 of May 20, 2016, p. 80, ISSN 0341-3497
- ↑ Stephan Beermann: Development will take place piece by piece . In: Ibbenbürener Volkszeitung . No. 72 , March 25, 2020, p. RIV14-V1 .
- ^ Accident report DC-3 XA + 118 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 26, 2019.