Langendiebach Air Base

Langendiebach Air Base ; Hanau Army Airfield
Characteristics
ICAO code	ETID
Coordinates	50 ° 10 '9 " N , 8 ° 57' 42" E Coordinates: 50 ° 10 '9 " N , 8 ° 57' 42" E
Height above MSL	112 m (367 ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	6 km northeast of Hanau
Street	4 km to the A66 , L3193
train	Friedberg – Hanau railway line
Basic data
opening	1939
closure	2007
operator	Air Force ; US Army
surface	240 ha
Start-and runway
10/28	916 m × 22 m asphalt

Aerial view of the air base

The former Langendiebach Air Base was a military airfield west of Langendiebach in Hesse , which was in operation from 1939 to 2007. The later name in the US armed forces was Hanau AAF (US Army Airfield). The former airfield is located west of Langendiebach. Part of the site belongs to the district of the northwestern town of Bruchköbel . The neighboring village of Rückingen is located in the southeast , and extensive forests are adjacent to the south and west. To the north, the site borders on an agricultural area. The largest extension is in a north-south direction with two kilometers.

history

Langendiebach Air Base

The Langendiebach location was chosen by chance; The area became aware of the area in 1936 through an emergency landing in the meadows there. Construction work began in 1937 and the air base was opened in 1939 . He was the home of the I. Group of Kampfgeschwader 55 under Major Max Heyna . After the beginning of the Second World War , the air base was used to train new pilots for gliders . When the front drew nearer in 1944, the air base remained undetected for a long time, only an expansion of the runway let the camouflage blow and the site was bombed at the end of 1944. Ju 88s of Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 had been lying here since mid-1944. The air base was completely destroyed when the Americans captured it on March 29, 1945.

Hanau Army Airfield

After the war, Airfield Y-91 , the Allied name at the end of the war, was rebuilt by the Americans, because as part of the Fulda Gap it was of great strategic importance. Air defense positions and weapons stores were built there. John F. Kennedy visited the airfield on June 25, 1963. In 1991, over 6,400 soldiers with several helicopter squadrons were stationed at Hanau Airfield. In addition to some UH-1 and UH-60 transport helicopters , the main operational models were the AH-64 combat helicopter and the OH-58 observation helicopter .

From 1975 to 1991 a US missile battalion was stationed at Hanau Airfield (1st Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment), which was equipped with Lance short-range missiles. In an emergency, these would have been equipped with nuclear warheads, for which there was a special ammunition depot in the forest to the west . Nuclear warheads for other weapon systems and nuclear projectiles were also stored there.

With the withdrawal of American troops from Germany, the airfield was given up in 2007. The site has been fallow ever since.

The burned-out building before it was demolished in 2016

Major fire on July 30, 2015

On the afternoon of July 30, 2015, a roof fire broke out in the former officers' club / post office / clock tower building, which quickly spread to the entire building. Despite the deployment of fire brigades from the entire Main-Kinzig district, from Frankfurt and water cannons from the police, it could not be prevented that the entire listed building burned out. It is not supposed to be rebuilt.

Further use

For further use, a special purpose association was founded in 2011, to which the cities of Bruchköbel and Erlensee belong.

The current plans provide for commercial companies to settle in the air base. For this purpose, a new approach from the northeast will be created and the old approach through the Markwald settlement demolished. A new sports facility for the city of Erlensee is also to be built at the air base. Large parts of the area, including the runway, are being demolished and renatured. The southwest of the area with the old, listed officer's houses is to be converted into recreational use, but so far there have been no interested parties. The reactivation of the rail connection and thus a connection of Erlensee to the Rhein-Main S-Bahn is theoretically possible, but is very unlikely according to the current state of planning.

The construction work has so far been limited to the removal of contaminated sites from the war, which meant that Erlensee had to be evacuated twice, as well as the connection of the area to the infrastructure networks such as water and electricity. In addition, another access road was built from the Erlensee bypass.

literature

Jens Arndt, Werner Kurz: Code name "Letter scales": The Langendiebach Air Base 1936–1945 , Ed .: AG Military History of the Hanauer Geschichtsverein 1844 e. V. and the home and history association Erlensee e. V., Hanau, 2008, ISBN 3-935395-09-4