Aspern Airport
| Aspern Airport | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | LOWA |
| Coordinates | |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 17 km northeast of Vienna |
| Street | B3 Groß Enzersdorfer Strasse |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1912 |
| closure | 2009 |
The airport Aspern or airport Vienna-Aspern ( ICAO code : LOWA ) than once Austria's largest airport of the predecessor of today's airport Schwechat . It was in Aspern , a part of the 22nd district of Vienna, Donaustadt , on the eastern outskirts of Vienna . The Seestadt Aspern has been under construction here since 2009 .
history
Aspern Airport was opened on June 23, 1912.
In the course of an air show in 1914, Oblt. I. R. and General Director Heinrich Bier with a Lloyd LS-1 , a double-decker from the Hungarian Lloyd aircraft and engine factory , four world altitude records with flights up to 5440 m.
But as early as 1914, after the assassination of the heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand , civil aviation was stopped and it was only used for military purposes. This is where the aircraft that were manufactured nearby by the Aviatik company were flown in before they could go into operation.
After the First World War , the airport was not expanded again for international air traffic until 1920, after the many destruction caused by the Treaty of Saint-Germain , and expanded in 1926.
During the civil war in Austria in February 1934, Godwin Brumowski launched the only air raid in this bloody conflict here. It went against the community housing Goethehof in the 22nd district of Vienna.
When the Anschluss on March 12, 1938, the German soldiers landed and immediately converted it back into an air force base.
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 1938 and 1945.
| From | To | unit | equipment |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 1938 | October 1938 | I./JG 138 (I. Group of Jagdgeschwader 138) | Fiat CR.32 , Heinkel He 51 , Messerschmitt Bf 109C / D |
| November 1938 | April 1939 | I./JG 134 | Arado Ar 65, Arado Ar 68E, Messerschmitt Bf 109B / D |
| May 1939 | August 1939 | I./JG 76 | Messerschmitt Bf 109E |
| April 1941 | April 1941 | II./KG 4 (II. Group of Kampfgeschwader 4) | Heinkel He 111H |
| August 1941 | September 1941 | III./KG 55 | Heinkel He 111H |
| October 1941 | November 1941 | I./KG 55 | Heinkel He 111H |
| January 1943 | February 1943 | II./JG 27 | Messerschmitt Bf 109G |
| May 1943 | October 1943 | II./KG 54 | Junkers Ju 88A-4 |
| September 1944 | September 1944 | Staff / JG 77 | Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 |
At the end of the war everything was destroyed and looted, but the rest was confiscated by the Red Army . After the occupation, the airfield was taken over by the Austrian Aero Club and used for sport aircraft.
Schwechat, founded in 1938 as a military airfield, took over this role for Vienna from Aspern when it opened in 1954 as a civil airfield. From June 1956 on, car races were held at the airfield . The last one took place on March 27, 1977.
The construction of the second runway 16/34 at Schwechat Airport, which was opened on October 6, 1977, meant the end of the Aspern airfield on April 30, 1977, as its air traffic would be too close to the approach path of the new Schwechat runway. Most of the resident flying clubs moved to Wiener Neustadt .
Going back to the endeavors of the then Federal Chancellor Bruno Kreisky , whose wish was an Austrodaimler , a part of the abandoned airport site adjacent to Großenzersdorfer Strasse was separated off for the purpose of relocating the automotive company with around 3,000 jobs. This was leased to General Motors with the two 100% subsidiaries General Motors Austria Ges.mbH and General Motors Austria Werke Ges.mbH on a long-term basis at a symbolic value. The state and municipal subsidies granted to General Motors for the establishment of an engine and transmission plant aroused social and political excitement in Austria and led to parliamentary questions and heated discussions in the House.
The building complex was built in 1980/81. Trial production began at the end of 1981, and in 1982 the plant was officially opened and regular operations began with the participation of high-ranking politicians and celebrities. The large, elongated factory hall (meanwhile enlarged towards the sides) is adjoined by the one-story, much shorter building with the social rooms (changing rooms, sanitary areas, etc.) for the workforce, offices, dining room and ordination rooms for the works doctor as well as vehicle test stands for the Quality control / assurance. In front of the street is the striking administration building, consisting of three floors, with the central auditorium on the ground floor, the dining room set laterally to the rear and the four circular staircases on each longitudinal outer side (therefore also jokingly referred to as "the eight-cylinder"). The building has two small, green inner courtyards to provide the offices located in the interior with sufficient light.
The area, which had remained undeveloped for many years, was used by the ARBÖ motorists' club as a traffic training area from 1988 . Since April 1, 2001, the base of the ÖAMTC rescue helicopter "Christophorus 9" has been at the eastern end . From 2004 this had to move to an alternative property that was made available near General Motors (Opel Vienna).
In 2006 the City of Vienna offered Asperngrund as a building site for a top university , but did not prevail against Maria Gugging in Lower Austria .
In July 2009 the final end for the Aspern airfield came. On Friday, July 3, 2009, the demolition of the still existing taxiway began.
Urban development
There are some old operations in the target area of the Aspern airfield, but there has also been a large Opel Vienna plant since 1982 ( General Motors until 2011 ). The Seestadt Aspern , one of the largest urban development projects in Europe of the 2010s , has been under construction on the former airfield since 2009 . By 2028, over 20,000 people are expected to live and work in this new district.
Incidents
- On December 18, 1942, a Junkers Ju 52 / 3m of Det Danske Luftfartselskab (DDL) ( aircraft registration OY-DAL ) coming from Copenhagen had an accident while approaching Vienna-Aspern a few kilometers from the destination airport. Two of the sixteen passengers were killed; the others and the three crew members survived.
literature
- Reinhard Keimel : Vienna-Aspern Airport. Verlag Sutton, Erfurt 2009, ISBN 978-3-86680-511-8
Web links
- www.flugfeld-aspern.at - Homepage on the history of the former airfield and later airport
- Aspern - Vienna's former airport photo reportage with aerial photos on AUSTRIAN WINGS - Austria's aviation magazine
- Airport details Vienna Aspern Airport (LOWA)
- The Vienna airport Aspern .. In: Arbeiter-Zeitung , August 2, 1925, p. 10 (online at ANNO ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Austrian National Library -Anno, Salzburg Chronicle April 7, 1926
- ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-1945 Austria (1937 Borders) , pp 34-36 , accessed on September 4, 2014
- ↑ GMA Ges.mbH and GMAW Ges.mbH became Opel Wien GmbH in May 2011 and sister company Opel Austria Vertrieb GmbH in March 2001 after several company mergers, spin-offs, re-mergers and changes of name .
- ↑ Christophorus 9. (No longer available online.) Oeamtc.at, archived from the original on September 13, 2016 ; accessed on September 3, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The taxiway at Aspern airfield is history. Demolition work started - groundbreaking for new district: research park and “Seestadt Wien” planned. In: Der Standard / APA . July 3, 2009, accessed August 11, 2019 .
- ^ Accident report Ju 52 OY-DAL , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 4, 2017.
