Uetersen airfield
| Uetersen-Heist Airport (EDHE) | |
|---|---|
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| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | EDHE |
| IATA code |
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| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 7 m (23 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 5.5 km southeast of Uetersen |
| Street | Federal road 431 northbound |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1934 |
| operator | Airfield Uetersen GmbH |
| surface | 120 ha |
| Runways | |
| 09/27 | 1100 m × 40 m grass (powered flight) |
| 09/27 | 1100 m × 50 m grass (gliding) |
The Uetersen-Heist airfield (formerly also Uetersen Air Base ) is located near the town of Uetersen in the Pinneberg district in the area of the Heist and Appen communities . The airfield is one of the most frequented airfields in Germany with 60,000 aircraft movements per year .
history
founding
As early as 1928 there were considerations to build a glider airfield in Uetersen , but it took a few years before the first aircraft could take off.
In June 1933, the first glider took off on a Sunday morning from a sports field in the middle of Uetersen. A total of 69 glider pilots were launched from this place by 1934. The biggest challenge, however, was that you had to share the sports grounds with the local sports clubs and that a large number of onlookers were always present.
Then they looked around in the vicinity of Uetersen, and found a suitable place there where an airfield could be built. At first the area of the Holmer Sandberge was found to be suitable, but due to the nature of the terrain the project was rejected again. Not far from the Holmer Sandberge there was the so-called Franzosenkoppel , a large heather area in the Appener and Heistmer Feldmark. It was not interrupted by hills or heavy tree growth and proved suitable for the construction of the airfield. After tough negotiations with several landowners, this area was sold to the town of Uetersen, which now became the owner. On March 22, 1934, work began on the “Sailing Sports Airport”. They were completed in the winter of the same year.
The first official flight operations began during the construction work in October 1934.
Flight operations and the conversion to a military airfield
A few months later, the first negotiations began to build a military airfield nearby. Due to the efforts of the then mayor of Uetersen and the law on the establishment of the armed forces and the restoration of military sovereignty from 1935, the airfield was converted into a military airfield. The runway was completed in the summer of 1935 . On July 25, 1936, the first powered aircraft, controlled by a student pilot from the Magdeburg Aviation School, landed on the freshly leveled runway , albeit by mistake . A little later, the construction of the barracks and hangars began. On October 3, 1936, Flieger-Ersatzabteilung 37 moved into the newly built barracks. At the end of 1938, the name was changed to Flieger-Ersatz -teilung 32.
Time during the second world war
After the start of the war in 1939, troops from long-range reconnaissance , night fighters , attack aircraft and transport aircraft were stationed. The units were equipped with the Ju 52 , Heinkel He 111 and the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Bf 110 , among others . During this time, several crashes occurred on the airfield, which also killed people.
On April 9, 1940, the attacks on Denmark and Norway , part of the large-scale German Weser Exercise company , started from here . In the early hours of the morning, twelve Ju 52 transport aircraft of Kampfgeschwader zbV 1 with the 4th Company of Paratrooper Regiment 1 took off . Most of the paratroopers were deployed on Storstrømsbroen between Falster and Zealand to secure the bridge there until German ground troops arrived. It was the first combat deployment of parachute troops from the air in this war. On the same day, over 100 other transport machines took off from the air base. They flew the second wave in conquering the airfields in Aalborg and the airfield in Stavanger, Norway .
Although the place was now mainly used for military purposes, the airfield was also connected to the international air freight network. The German Lufthansa opened on 29 January 1940, the air cargo route Uetersen Copenhagen . This route was flown daily with a Junkers Ju 52. On March 3, 1943, the first incendiary and high-explosive bombs were dropped on the airfield by English bombers on the way to Wedel . They caused considerable damage to the buildings and the airfield. More bombs followed, and the runway was also damaged.
At the beginning of July 1943 the first dive bombers were stationed. In the night of the 24./25. July 1943 the airfield was bombed again. It was the beginning of Operation Gomorrah , the heaviest attack in the history of the air war. On May 5, 1945, British troops occupied the airfield, which the Allies referred to as Airfield B.174 .
Situation after the war
The British Air Force of Occupation continued to use the space, in addition to British fighter planes, up to five squadrons of Canadian Supermarine Spitfires of the 126th Wing (squadron), which were disbanded in March 1946, lay here after the end of the war . From November 1948 to March 1950, RAF Uetersen was the home of the 85th Group , which administered the RAF stations used by the United States Air Force during the Berlin Airlift . This maintained a liaison squadron, which was equipped with different types of aircraft (Anson, Procter, Auster, Oxford, Spitfire, Dominie, Mosquito). The Royal Air Force then stayed in Uetersen until the end of November 1955.
After the end of the Second World War, German aviation was very restricted and military aviation was completely prohibited. In 1955, the Federal Republic of Germany was partly sovereign and the Bundeswehr was founded. The newly established Air Force was created as a branch of the armed forces in 1956 . In the same year, the Air Force Training Regiment 1 was formed at Uetersen Air Base . On October 19, 1956, the first swearing-in of the new soldiers took place here. In May 1958, the trainee flight regiment was set up in Uetersen. Piper PA-18 and Piaggio P.149 aircraft were used to train the pilots until basic training was relocated to Fürstenfeldbruck . Military flight operations were then discontinued. The air base was renamed the Marseille barracks in October 1975 after the German aviator Hans-Joachim Marseille . Only the language school and the Air Force NCO school remained on the air base .
Air Force Museum
The airfield was also home to the Uetersen Air Force Museum, which was established in 1956 and moved to Berlin-Gatow in 1995 in a large-scale operation , where today's Air Force Museum was built.
Civil use after the war
In mid-1951, the responsible aviation authority in Kiel granted permission to resume glider operations. Glider operations were initially only carried out on weekends so as not to disrupt military flight operations on weekdays. In 1957, the municipality of Heist provided the newly founded airfield community west of the airfield with a site for the construction of an aircraft hangar with a tower. In 1965 the motorized pilots were also allowed to settle.
At first, glider operations could only be carried out on the south side of the field, since the air force carried out military operations parallel to the runway on the north side. From 1965, the military shared the runway with the first powered aircraft. The flight control for civilian operations was initially housed in a barrack in a corner of the square. After military flight operations ended in 1972, powered flight was relocated to the south side and glider flight to the north side. After this reorganization, the current airfield building with tower and restaurant was built.
The airfield became world famous in 1987 when the previously unknown private pilot Mathias Rust started his flight from here in a Cessna 172 to Moscow , where it landed next to Red Square .
In the 1970s, a blimp was invited to Uetersen for the first time . It was the Goodyear airship N2A .
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present
Today's airfield is used exclusively for civilian purposes. The following aviation clubs are represented there and at the same time are 25% shareholders of Flugplatz Uetersen GmbH:
- Luftsportverein Kreis Pinneberg e. V. LSV (glider flight)
- Glider Club Uetersen e. V. SCU (glider flight)
- Aero-Club Pinneberg e. V. (powered flight)
- Hamburger Luftsport e. V. (umbrella association of some Hamburg aviation clubs, motor and glider flying)
Passenger air transport
The following companies in commercial air traffic are based at Uetersen Airfield or fly to the airport:
- Air Hamburg (technology)
- Canair aerospace company and pilot training
- Charlie Bravo Aeronautics GmbH (flight school & technology / maintenance / restoration of classic cars)
- HanseAIR, flight school for private pilots, aerobatics and aircraft
- Aerial Sign, (aerial advertising)
Incidents
Uetersen airfield has had five incidents in its history:
- On July 29, 1999, a Cessna 152 crashed during a go-around on approach, a flight instructor died in the machine and a student pilot survived seriously injured.
- On February 12, 2000, a Ruschmeyer R90 crashed while approaching runway 27 for an unknown cause. All 3 inmates were killed.
- On September 2, 2009, a Robinson R22 overturned during training shortly after taking off. The helicopter was completely destroyed, the pilot was able to escape unharmed from the wreck.
- On March 18, 2010, a Cessna 152 crashed on the final approach to the airfield from a low height on the runway. One of the two occupants was slightly injured in the accident.
- On August 7, 2013, a Cessna 172 crashed into a nearby forest after taking off. Both inmates were killed.
See also
literature
- Hans Ferdinand Bubbe : Heimatbuch Uetersen. Attempt of a chronicle of the city and the monastery Uetersen . Part V - VI. Heydorn, Uetersen 1939
- Lothar Mosler : Uetersen focus. History and Stories 1234–1984. Heydorn, Uetersen 1985, DNB 860964795 .
- Lothar Mosler: Uetersen Air Base, Marseille Barracks. A documentation of local history . Heydorn Verlag, Uetersen 1987
- Air Force Museum Uetersen. (Special edition for the 20th anniversary of the museum in 1977)
- City of Uetersen: 750 years of Uetersen. 1984.
- Ernst Brütt, Gerhard Scharfenstein: Sport in Uetersen. 1997.
- Uetersen local history museum
- Uetersener news . 2007.
- Adolf Galland: The first and the last. Fighter pilot in World War II . 16th edition. Heyne, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-453-00012-9 . (Heyne general series, No. 129)
- Christopher Babecki: Airfield Uetersen / Heist , In: The Uetersen Lexicon . Schmidt & Klaunig, Kiel 2012 ISBN 978-3-88312-421-6 , pp. 32-35.
Web links
- Official website of the airport
- Website of the Segelflug-Club Uetersen e. V.
- Website of the Luftsportverein Kreis Pinneberg e. V.
- Website of the Association of Hanseatic Fliegerfreunde e. V.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Commissioning of Air Force Training Regiment 1 www.geschichte.luftwaffe.de, accessed on July 10, 2010.
- ↑ Trainee flight regiment set up www.geschichte.luftwaffe.de, accessed on July 10, 2010.
- ^ Investigation report of the Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation
- ^ Investigation report of the Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation
- ^ Investigation report of the Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation
- ↑ Investigation report ( memento of the original from December 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. the Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation
- ↑ Two deaths in a HanseAir plane crash . In: Hamburger Abendblatt from August 7, 2013.
- ↑ Thomas Klink: Heist: Two dead in plane crash. . Pinneberg Tageblatt of August 8, 2013. Online at shz.de, accessed on September 14, 2013.
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