Wunstorf Air Base

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Wunstorf Air Base
Overflight west of Wunstorf Air Base
Characteristics
ICAO code ETNW
Coordinates

52 ° 27 '26 "  N , 9 ° 25' 38"  E Coordinates: 52 ° 27 '26 "  N , 9 ° 25' 38"  E
Height above MSL 57 m (187  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center 5 km north of Wunstorf
Street B442
Local transport Bus route 790 820
Basic data
opening 1936
operator German airforce
surface 455 ha
Runways
03/21 1699 m × 48 m asphalt
08/26 2499 m × 45 m concrete

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The airfield Wunstorf , even airbase Wunstorf called, is a German military airfield , which nowadays from the Air Force is operated near Wunstorf (Niedersachsen), northwest of Hanover. On it is the Air Transport Wing 62 stationed, and there are aircraft mechanics trained and electronics.

history

The air base for the Reich Air Force was set up on the former parade and shooting range of the Wunstorf mounted artillery between Klein Heidorn and Liethe . The foundation stone was laid in the spring of 1934 in the Klein Heidorn district.

The following table shows a list of selected active flying units (excluding school and supplementary units) of the Wehrmacht Air Force that were stationed here between 1936 and 1945.

From To unit equipment
April 1936 March 1937 II./KG 154 (II. Gruppe des Kampfgeschwader 154) Junkers Ju 52 / 3m
April 1937 April 1937 II./KG 157 Junkers Ju 52 / 3m, Heinkel He 111
May 1939 August 1939 II./KG 27 Heinkel 111P
October 1939 May 1940 III./KG 27
November 1939 April 1940 III./LG 1 ( III.Group of Lehrgeschwader 1) Heinkel He 111H, Junkers Ju 88A
June 1940 July 1940 Parts of II./JG 27 (II. Group of Jagdgeschwader 27) Messerschmitt Bf 109E
March 1941 May 1941 Staff, I./KG 3 Dornier Do 17Z , Junkers Ju 88A
November 1941 August 1944 Parts of III./NJG 3 ( III.Group of Nachtjagdgeschwader 3) Messerschmitt Bf 110
July 1943 August 1943 I./ZG 1 (I. Group of Destroyer Squadron 1) Messerschmitt Bf 110G-2
October 1943 March 1944 Staff, III./ZG 26
June 1944 July 1944 III./JG 1 Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6
June 1944 July 1944 I./JG 3
July 1944 August 1944 Staff / JG 53 Messerschmitt Bf 109G-14
August 1944 October 1944 I./JG 5 Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6
September 1944 November 1944 I./LG 1 Junkers Ju 88S-3
October 1944 December 1944 Staff, II./JG 11 Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6, Bf 109G-14
Aircraft hangar at Wunstorf Air Base on April 8, 1945
US soldiers examine a Ju 88 G-8 night fighter at Wunstorf Air Base, summer 1945

In April 1945 the Royal Air Force (RAF) took over the air base , which the Allies initially referred to as Airfield B.116 . The British Air Force of Occupation stationed particularly fighter-bomber squadrons here, for example the 123rd Wing . In the summer of 1945 this consisted of Typhoon IB and Spitfire XIV / XVI squadrons, the latter of the Royal Canadian Air Force (two squadrons) and volunteers from Belgium and the Netherlands (two and one squadron, respectively). RAF Wunstorf remained an RAF station as one of the few airfields still in use immediately after the end of the war, but from the end of March 1946 the 123rd Squadron was only subject to two British Tempest V squadrons . A year later the clarity of these machines, which had already been used in the war, sank alarmingly. Therefore, in January 1948 began the first of two seasons, the 80 Squadron , the conversion to the last series of the Spitfire (F.24) while the second unit, the 3rd Squadron , in mid-April 1948 feed of the Vampire F1 the Heralded the jet age at the RAF.

In the summer of that year, both squadrons were relocated to RAF Gütersloh to make room for the cargo planes used in the Berlin Airlift . During the operation of the airlift to Berlin, which was also operated from Wunstorf, transport planes took off from June 1948 to May 1949, mostly of the Avro York type .

After the end of the airlift in mid-1949, the station became home to the 123rd Wing again . a. also used Spitfires. In mid-1950, due to the Korean War, a global armament began and two more squadrons of vampires relocated to Wunstorf. In August 1952 the first Venom FB1s arrived at the 2nd Tactical Air Force, and Wunstorf was assigned the role of field testing of this new type. Later in the 1950s, the 2nd Tactical Air Force only operated jets of the Swift FR.5 and Meteor PR.10 types .

In March 1958, the air force of the German armed forces took over the air base . Shortly thereafter, this became the location of the “S” pilot school , which mainly carried out training with the Noratlas N2501 and, from 1968, with the Transall C-160 .

On October 12, 1963, Konrad Adenauer was bid farewell by the Bundeswehr with a parade .

By reclassification in October 1978, the FFS "S" became the Lufttransportgeschwader 62 , which has been stationed here ever since.

Todays use

Ju-52 Museum at the air base

Wunstorf is the German type base for the A400M Atlas . In anticipation of the arrival of 40 machines of this type, the first of which arrived in December 2014, a 450 million euro modernization and expansion project began in September 2009. The expansion should drag on until 2020.

Among other things, runway 08/26 has already been extended to the east. Furthermore, the outdoor parking areas were expanded and new halls and a training center were built. Analogous to the Eurocopter Tiger training, Germany and France will jointly conduct training on the A400M. The heart of the training in Wunstorf are two "full flight" simulators , the first of which was certified in 2016. As part of the agreement with France, Germany takes on the basic training in accordance with JAR-FCL . The subsequent tactical training of the operational crews takes place at the French type base in Orléans-Bricy . In a transition phase [obsolete] the training will take place at Airbus Military in Seville .

In front of the gates of the Wunstorf Air Base, civil servicing of the A400M is to be carried out by Airbus on behalf of the German Armed Forces. To the west of the air base - on the eastern outskirts of Großenheidorn, north of the city of Wunstorf - the necessary facilities are to be built on an area of ​​approx. 13.06 ha. A corresponding development plan is in preparation (as of July 2019).

To the west of the air base near Großenheidorn is the Ju-52-Museum, run by an association, with an exhibition hall, in which, among other things, a Junkers Ju 52 / 3m is on display. Other aircraft and helicopters can be viewed on the adjacent open-air site.

Two civil clubs use the space mainly on weekends and holidays. The Sportfluggruppe Wunstorf eV operates two engine aircraft, the Aero Club eV Steinhude a motor glider .

Motorsport

Airfield race Wunstorf
Route type: temporary racetrack
Opening: 1964
Decommissioned: 1998
Track layout
Wunstorf airfield circuit.png
Route data
Important
events: 		DTM , interseries
Route length: 5.05  km (3.14  mi )
Records
Track record:
(DTM) 		1: 44.45 min.
( Nicola Larini , Alfa Romeo , 1993)
Records

Course record : (Interserie) 		1: 30.750 min.
( Kris Nissen , Kremer Porsche 962 , 1988)

In the years 1964 to 1998, the air base was the venue for the Wunstorf airfield race almost every year, in which a wide variety of racing series started.

Between 1984 and the 1993 DTM season , a total of nine races of the German Touring Car Championship were held in Wunstorf.

The 5,050 meter long track is one of the longest in the history of the DTM. The lap record is held by the Italian Nicola Larini , who circumnavigated the route in his Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI in 1: 44.45 minutes. The best time was set in 1993 in qualifying for the last DTM race at the air base.

From 1977 to 1979 and from 1985 to 1990 the Interserie was a guest in Wunstorf, in which vehicles from the World Sports Car Championship ( Group C ) also recently took part. The lap record in this series was set by the Danish driver Kris Nissen in a Kremer Porsche 962 on July 17, 1988 with a lap time of 1: 30.750, which corresponds to an average speed of 200.331 km / h.

In 1999 the annual airfield races were stopped for cost reasons.

Incidents

From May 1945 to July 2018 there were 23 total write-offs of aircraft at Wunstorf airfield and in its vicinity. At least 8 people were killed. Examples:

  • On September 19, 1948, an Avro York C.1 of the Royal Air Force ( aircraft registration MW288 ) crashed during a night take-off at the Wunstorf RAF station. When an engine failure occurred and the cargo plane went off the runway, the pilots tried to avoid the collision with a radar vehicle. The machine was stalled, it stalled and crashed at Klein Heidorn . The aircraft was in use for the Berlin Airlift . All five crew members were killed.
  • On September 23, 1948, an Avro York C.1 of the Royal Air Force (MW245) had an accident while aborting take-off at RAF station Wunstorf. The commander retracted the landing gear in order to bring the machine to a standstill in time. All inmates survived. The aircraft that was used within the Berlin Airlift was damaged beyond repair.
  • On November 10, 1948, the airspeed indicator failed in an Avro York C.1 of the Royal Air Force (MW270) when taking off from RAF station Wunstorf. When the takeoff was aborted, the commander retracted the landing gear in order to bring the machine to a standstill in time. All inmates survived. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.
  • On July 30, 1949, there was a loss of power in an engine of an Avro York C.1 of the Royal Air Force (MW145) during the night take-off from RAF station Wunstorf. Directional control was lost, and the pilots retracted the landing gear to bring the machine to a standstill in time. The plane was destroyed. All inmates survived.

See also

literature

  • Hans Sagatz: Military history of the city of Wunstorf , Wunstorf: Heimatverein Wunstorf, 1979
  • Hubert Brieden, Heidi Dettinger, Marion Hirschfeld, D. Strege, S. Weigang: Wunstorf Air Base 1933–1939 , Ed .: Working Group Regional History , Hanover: Aurora-Verlag, 1984, ISBN 3-923296-04-5
  • Heiner Wittrock: Wunstorf Air Base ,
    • Volume 1: The Air Base of the Third Reich (1934–1945) , Wunstorf: Stadt Wunstorf, 1995
    • Volume 2: From the Royal Air Force to Lufttransportgeschwader 62 (1945–1998) , Wunstorf 2010
  • Hubert Brieden, Heidi Dettinger, Marion Hirschfeld: "A complete success for the Air Force." The destruction of Guernica and the maintenance of German tradition. Wunstorf, Pforzheim, Bonn (= Black Series on Regional History , Volume 7), ed. from the regional history working group, Neustadt am Rübenberge: Publishing Region and History, 1997, ISBN 978-3-930726-03-5 and ISBN 3-930726-03-3
  • Hubert Brieden, Tim Rademacher: Air Force, extermination of Jews, total war. Guernica, Łomża, Warsaw, Coventry… German history policy, maintaining tradition in the garrison town of Wunstorf, “Forgotten” history in Hannover-Langenhagen , Neustadt: Edition Region + History, ISBN 978-3-930726-15-8 , 2010
  • Ann-Kathrin Seidel: On the takeoff. At the end of the year, a new era will begin for the Air Force. Then the troops get a new transport aircraft - and the farewell to the Transall begins at the air base in Wunstorf , in ;: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung , newspaper for Hanover and the surrounding area , Hanover: Madsack, edition of February 21, 2013, p. 15
  • Robert von Lucius : What to do if there's a fire Wunstorf: Five out of 72 firefighters are missing at the air base , in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of November 11, 2013, p. 2
  • Hubert Brieden (author), Mechthild Dortmund (translator), Tim Rademacher (photographer): Consequences of the war. Gernika (Guernica) / Bizkaia and Wunstorf / Region Hannover. About the difficulties in dealing with military history in Germany and Spain , Neustadt am Rübenberge: Edition Region + Geschichte, 2017, ISBN 978-3-930726-30-1 and 3-930726-30-0

Periodicals:

  • The flying leaf. The newspaper for the Wunstorf Air Base, publisher: Freundeskreis Fliegerhorst Wunstorf eV and the traditional community air transport Wunstorf eV, Wunstorf, 1997–
    • Published until 1999: Traditionsgemeinschaft Lufttransport 62;
    • Published from 13.2004: Traditionsgemeinschaft Lufttransport Wunstorf

Web links

Commons : Wunstorf Air Base  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ hans Sagatz Wunstorf social life , panel VIII, editor: Heimatverein Wunstorf, 1970 (?)
  2. ↑ Site elder and commodore LTG 62 - Colonel Henrich: LTG 62 - site information - Chronicle of Wunstorf Air Base . 2013, p. 4-6 .
  3. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45 Germany (1937 Borders) , accessed on August 29, 2014
  4. ↑ Adenauer's speech about his departure , konrad-adenauer.de
  5. ↑ EASA certifies A400M simulators, Flug Revue, August 26, 2016
  6. ↑ Milestone for pilot training, Luftwaffe.de, July 13, 2017
  7. ↑ Schaumburger Wochenblatt, June 8, 2019, accessed on July 19, 2019
  8. ↑ Sportfluggruppe Wunstorf eV
  9. ^ Aeroclub Steinhuder Meer eV
  10. ↑ a b Based on the explanations at: http://www.dunlop.eu/dunlop_dede/Images/msa_jahrgang%202002_2003_tcm430-32088.pdf
  11. ↑ Race statistics on DTM.com ( Memento from January 22, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  12. ↑ AMG Mercedes C-Class DTM 2008 , DeAgostini magazine, issue 47
  13. ↑ see: http://www.racingsportscars.com/race/Wunstorf-1988-07-17.html
  14. ↑ List of accidents at Wunstorf Airport , Aviation Safety Network WikiBase , accessed on July 26, 2018.
  15. ↑ List of accidents at the Wunstorf RAF station , Aviation Safety Network WikiBase , accessed on March 7, 2019.
  16. ↑ accident report Avro York MW288 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on 7 March of 2019.
  17. ↑ James J. Halley: Broken Wings. Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents . Air-Britain (Historians), Tunbridge Wells, 1999, ISBN 0-85130-290-4 , p. 79.
  18. ↑ accident report Avro York MW245 , Aviation Safety Network (English) retrieved on October 27 of 2019.
  19. ↑ accident report Avro York MW270 , Aviation Safety Network (English) retrieved on October 27 of 2019.
  20. ↑ accident report Avro York MW145 , Aviation Safety Network (English) retrieved on October 27 of 2019.
  21. ↑ UK and Germany sign deal for twinning of airforce bases, Air Force Technology, March 5, 2018
  22. ^ German-British partnership agreed, Hannoversche Allgemeine, March 1, 2018