Nordholz Air Base
| Nordholz Air Base | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | ETMN |
| IATA code | NDZ / FCN |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 22 m (72 ft ) |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1958 |
| operator | German Navy |
| Terminals | 1 |
| Start-and runway | |
| 08/26 | 2440 m × 45 m concrete |
The air base Nordholz ( ICAO code : ETMN , IATA code : NDZ ) is a German military airfield in the north woods in the municipality Wurster North Sea coast in the district of Cuxhaven in northern Lower Saxony .
Germany's only naval airfield is home to the Naval Aviation Command and the two squadrons subordinate to it, the Naval Aviation Squadron 3 "Graf Zeppelin" and the Naval Aviation Squadron 5 .
A civil co-user operates the Sea-Airport Cuxhaven / Nordholz (IATA code: FCN ) on the site . Part of the civil air traffic previously operated from the Bremerhaven-Luneort airfield has been handled from Nordholz since March 1, 2016, as the airfield in Bremerhaven had to be closed to make room for an offshore terminal.
History and military use
On December 17, 1912, the State Secretary of the Reichsmarinamt , Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz , commissioned the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven with the construction of an 800 hectare naval base in the heathland near Nordholz. The area met all the special requirements for the location of the naval base: it was a centrally located site without too much military presence, inexpensive to acquire and secured against shelling from the sea by the offshore mudflats.
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Over 18,161,000 marks went into the construction of the top secret gas works, the accommodation and the airship hangars . The double hall “NOBEL”, initially called “HERTA”, stood on rails and could be rotated 360 ° within an hour. The world's only double turning hall weighed 4600 t and was initially 182 meters long, then during the war 200 meters with a width of 70 meters and a height of 30 meters. The purpose of the revolving hall was to pull the airships out of or into the hall without the risk of cross winds, regardless of the wind direction . On the other hand, the double halls NORMAN, NOGAT and NORDSTERN as well as the single halls NORA and NORBERT were fixed. From 1915 onwards, all halls were given names beginning with "NO".
With the ability to accommodate ten airships, Nordholz was one of the largest and most important airship bases in the First World War . In particular, airships from the Zeppelin system were used, but also some airships from the Schütte-Lanz system . Supported by the Royal Navy , British air forces flew from makeshift aircraft carriers from the so-called " Christmas attack" on December 25, 1914, primarily to hit the Cuxhaven naval base and the airships and hangars in Nordholz. Due to unfavorable weather and early detection and defense, the damage remained minor, the planes withdrew and dropped further bombs on Wilhelmshaven, Norderney and German naval ships in the North Sea on the flight home .
In accordance with the requirements of the Versailles Peace Treaty , almost all the halls were blown up, dismantled or scrapped in 1921. The double twist Hall followed 1924. 1938 that built air force again an air base on the grounds on which machines in the Second World War the southern North Sea assured. In the last years of the war, parts of the Nachtjagdgeschwader 3 (NJG 3) were located here .
After the war, the airfield first served the United States Army Air Forces as a base (AAF Station Nordholz), which handed it over to the British in 1947. British Royal Air Force airmen bombed Nordholz off Heligoland . It later served the Americans again as an airfield before the German Navy could take over the site and convert it into a naval air base .
Civil use
The Aeronauticum , an airship and naval aviation museum, is located at the airport. The Deichbrand music festival has been held annually on the airport site since 2009 .
Next to the air base is the Nordholz-Spieka airfield with a roughly parallel 875 m × 30 m grass runway.
Sea-Airport Cuxhaven / Nordholz
Opposite the air base is the civil part of the air base Nordholz, the Sea-Airport Cuxhaven / Nordholz, operated by the airport operating company Cuxhaven / Nordholz mbH , which was founded in 1995 ( public-private partnership ). In addition to being used by operators of business aircraft, Germania operated the route Cuxhaven / Nordholz– Palma de Mallorca on September 29, 2017 . After only one flight, the connection was discontinued due to lack of official approval and relocated to Bremen . The airline OFD Ostfriesischer Flugdienst operates daily scheduled flights to the Helgoland-Düne airfield . The airline Yourways suspended all scheduled flights in July 2018.
The Aero-Club Bremerhaven, founded in 1957, has also moved to Nordholz in March 2016, to the airport terminal building , next to the entrance to the OFD airline . The club's aircraft are in a round hangar at the sea airport / ETMN-Ramp Zulu (since mid-April 2017) together with the Honda Jet from Privateways Luftfahrtgesellschaft mbH. The club also operates a flight school and offers charter flights over the Wadden Sea World Heritage Site and along the North and Baltic Sea coasts from Borkum to Rügen .
Directions
By car via the A 27 Cuxhaven - Bremen , exit Nordholz. The airport can be reached by public transport via Nordholz station on the Bremerhaven - Cuxhaven railway line (hourly connections), from there it is approx. 4 km (taxi).
See also
- Nordholz-Spieka airfield (in the immediate vicinity)
- List of commercial airports in Germany
- List of air bases in Germany
Web links
- Sea airport Cuxhaven / Nordholz and "Sea Airpark Cuxhaven / Nordholz - an area for industrial settlements
- Official website of the Navy about the squadron
- Video of the Bundeswehr over the Nordholz air base - handling of air traffic (3:40)
- City wiki Cuxhaven - Naval Aviation Base Nordholz
- The port of operations in Nordholz in Relict.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Transfer of command to the naval aviation in Kiel-Holtenau
- ^ Sea-Airport Cuxhaven / Nordholz. on: sea-airport.com
- ↑ Bremerhaven: Airfield is to move. on: airliners.de , September 21, 2011.
- ↑ Helgoland Airport EDHX - Bremerhaven route network , accessed on February 26, 2016.
- ↑ http://www.aerotelegraph.com/nach-einem-mallorca-flug-war-schluss-cuxhaven-nordholz
- ↑ fliegofd.de - scheduled flights
- ↑ fliegofd.de - scheduled flights
