Cologne-Butzweilerhof airport

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Portal of the Butzweilerhof clearance hall from 1936
lobby

The Cologne-Butzweilerhof Airport was the first civilian airport of the city of Cologne . It was created in 1911 in the Ossendorf district . Today there is a location on the site called Butzweilerhof with residential buildings and a commercial area .

prehistory

Abraham Hogenberg - Ehrenportzer Schweidt (1609)

The farm "Potzweyler" was founded in 1230, the increased development "Potzweyler" was released in 1609 on the Schweidkarte of Abraham Hogenberg , the small village ( hamlet ) then was between "Ossendorff" (today Ossendorf ) and "Buckelmeuntt" ( Cologne Bocklemünd ) west of the "Heggerhoff" (the Heckhof in today's district Bilderstöckchen was from 1348 the Präsenzhof the pen St. Ursula ). On the Tranchot map from 1807 , the Beitzweiler Hof is shown as a single courtyard complex with surrounding gardens west-southwest of the Hechhof / Heckhof, which still exists today . He lay east of the present Butzweilerstraße the confluence of today just north Delfosse road (range: 50 ° 58 '51.1 "  N , 6 ° 54' 4.6"  O ) and was on the map of the Prussian new recording as Butzweiler referred. The farm buildings were demolished in 1914, the residential building probably in 1935. The Potzweiler and Heckhof farms belonged to the Longerich mayor's office around 1825; at that time the property was already called "Butzweiler Hof".

Airship and airport

With regard to aviation , a distinction must be made between the airship port in Cologne-Bickendorf and the Butzweilerhof airport in Cologne-Ossendorf . During the airship port exclusively to transport with airships served, the airport Butzweilerhof was a real airfield for aircraft .

Airship port

On April 1, 1909, construction began on the “Reichs-Luftschiffhalle” in Cologne-Bickendorf between Venloer Strasse and Ossendorfer Weg. A steel structure 152 meters long, 50 meters wide and 30 meters high (hall area 7600 m²) was created, which was completed in May 1909 and provided space for 3 airships. Thereupon, in July 1909, Kaiser Wilhelm II gave the city of Cologne the official name “Reichsluftschiffhafen Coeln”. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin landed on August 5, 1909 with the "Z II" in Cologne-Bickendorf. From April 1910, maneuvering operations with the airships "Z II", "MI" and "P II" were taken from the airship port in Cologne . The buildings were closed from 1970.

Butzweilerhof airport

Before the First World War

In the summer of 1910, the Cologne aviation pioneer Jean Hugot made a second attempt to bring his self-constructed flying machine to a height of two meters for a few seconds. He used the field of the Butzweiler Hof, on which he could fly up to 60 meters after further attempts. In a barn, he and other Cologne designers kept machines that were further developed. On July 23, 1911, Hugot saved himself from the burning machine in another attempt. Butzweilerhof Airport was established in 1912 as the “Imperial Aviation Station and Flight School”. In May 1912, the city leased the airfield to the military administration, which created the first tarmac there with a 256 meter long runway at 48 meters above sea level. The site “is particularly convenient because it borders directly on the military airship hangar built in Ossendorf.” On June 29, 1912, Jean Hugot organized a “Flugtag zu Cöln”, which attracted 100,000 visitors.

The foundation stone for the military airport was finally laid on September 15, 1912. An aircraft hangar, a motor vehicle hangar and four cantilever hangars measuring 22 × 60 meters each, two underground fuel systems and a brake stand were built. On April 1, 1913, it was inaugurated as the "Cölln Butzweilerhof Fliegerstation". He was obtained from the staff of the 1st Company of the 3rd Flieger Battalion. Manfred von Richthofen , who was one of the outstanding pilots with 80 victories on his Fokker “ Dr.I ”, received a one-week flight observer course from June 7th to June 10th, 1915 in the Aviation Replacement Department 7 (FEA 7) with about 30 others Cadets. The "Fliegerbeobachterschule Köln" started operations on January 28, 1917 at the Cologne-Butzweilerhof airfield.

Before World War II

Butzweilerhof main entrance, 1937
Listed main building of the former Butzweilerhof airport

As a result of the First World War , the 4th Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps occupied the Butzweilerhof between December 1918 and March 1919 and was replaced by the Royal Air Force in March 1919 . Ossendorf now served as Cologne airport when the British Instone Air Line started operating there on October 2, 1922, from London-Brussels-Cologne. Until the British withdrew on January 31, 1926, the Butzweilerhof was also known as the "Aerodrome Bickendorf". The British occupation troops withdrew on January 31, 1926, and on February 1, 1926, a Lufthansa G 34 junker from Berlin landed in Butzweilerhof . With the support of Cologne's Mayor Konrad Adenauer , Fritz Schumacher had the military airport expanded to 173 hectares. Already on May 16, 1926, fittingly on Ascension Day , the "Butz" was released for civil air traffic. On that day, after the reconstruction of the military airport, the inauguration of the civil airport took place. From the beginning, six lines flew to the airport. Lufthansa opened scheduled air traffic on April 6, 1926 with the Berlin-Cologne-Paris route. After the crew left, the airport site and the buildings on it became the property of the city. In 1926, the Butzweilerhof recorded around 24 take-offs and landings a day, and in 1930 more than 50 planes landed. From 1930 until the Second World War, the airport was the air hub of the West. In 1931 a line connection to the Aachen-Merzbrück airfield was set up, which was operated with the Junkers G 24 until 1935 . After the Cologne city council had decided to expand Butzweilerhof airport from 54 ha to 129 ha, work on its expansion began in 1935. After construction began on April 23, 1935, 1,100 unemployed were drafted for the expansion. On July 25, 1936, the new, representative, 250-meter-long airport reception building designed by the architect Hans Mehrtens was opened with a ceremony that combined a simple, basically modern design in the spirit of New Building with monumental elements of National Socialist architecture. It stands today along with other parts of the plant under monument protection . The station building was faithfully restored between 1995 and 2007. After Berlin-Tempelhof, Butzweilerhof became the second largest German airport complex in the 1930s.

On August 26, 1939, the airport with all buildings and facilities was confiscated by the German military. On May 10, 1940 before dawn - on this day the campaign in the west began - 11 towing teams started from here (one tow plane and one DFS 230 cargo glider each ). Shortly afterwards, the gliders landed in Belgium near Fort Eben-Emael and attacked two bridges.

After the Second World War

Condition of the airport in 2016
Stele depicting the history of the airport in front of the main building: Civil aviation panel

Even after 1945, the "Butz" remained military due to occupation and later NATO troops. It was also used for civilian purposes until 1957 and also for sport aviation until August 4, 1980. The function of a commercial civil airport was taken over by the new Cologne / Bonn Airport in Cologne-Wahn on July 18, 1957 . In 1956, at the “Air Day of Nations” with 200,000 visitors, and in 1960 as the venue for the world championship in gliding , the airport made headlines again.

The Royal Air Force took over the facility in March 1945. In January 1967 it left the barracks and handed it over to the Bundeswehr for sole use. This used the property, among other things, for the accommodation of a motor vehicle training center, the transport battalion 801, the defense district command 31, various equipment units and small offices. Military use ended in 2006. The Federal Intelligence Service is said to have maintained a secret office in the Butzweilerhof barracks, which investigated against Poland and was headed by Colonel Günther Baltutis.

On September 30, 1980, the Cologne District President ordered the closure of the Cologne Butzweilerhof airfield (EDKU). On November 15, 1980, Pope John Paul II celebrated a Holy Mass on the former airfield in front of 380,000 spectators. The Belgian Army Aviation Armed Forces and the heavy transport battalion 801 of the Bundeswehr remained. On October 17, 1981 the airport tower was dismantled, in August 1995 the Belgian army aviators left the airfield; the Bundeswehr closed the site on December 31, 1995. This meant that flight operations were completely suspended. In the following years the area was often used for music events. Between 1996 and 1999 it was the location of the Bizarre Festival , in 1997 the rock band U2 performed their elaborately designed Popmart Tour in front of around 60,000 spectators .

Current condition

The airport complex from the 1930s is now a listed building, essential parts of it are still preserved and partially restored. In addition to parts of the concrete runway, this includes the main building with reception hall (1935/36), the depot (1935/36), aircraft hangar 1 with a four-storey control tower (1936), aircraft hangar 2 (1937) and four of what were previously five single-family houses (1937 ) for employees of the technical service on Delfossestrasse. A housing estate is being built on the runway side, with a minimum distance to the listed ensemble being maintained. An automotive service center MOTORWORLD Cologne - Rhineland has been operating on the site of the historic airport since June 2018 . In the area of ​​the former hangars, three restaurants, a hotel, conference and meeting rooms and an exhibition on the seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher were set up.

industrial Estate

As a replacement for the airport site , the city ​​planned an industrial area as a conversion area, which led to the settlement of companies as early as December 1968. The first company was Daimon , which celebrated the topping-out ceremony in January 1969. The former industrial area Ossendorf is now called "Gewerbegebiet Am Butzweilerhof" and has a usable area of ​​33 hectares.

As a result of the admission of private broadcasting in Germany in January 1984, media companies concentrated at Butzweilerhof. VOX was the first private television station to settle in January 1993 , the music station VIVA Germany followed in December 1993. The regional telecommunications service provider NetCologne moved here in October 1994 (Am Coloneum 9). They formed the "Butzweilerhof media center" created in 1998 as part of the "Am Butzweilerhof industrial area" with a size of 15 hectares. The television and film production company Magic Media Company (MMC) moved its headquarters here after the “Coloneum” operated by it opened here on October 2, 1999 with a gala event for the German Television Prize . In August 2004 the news channel n-tv went on air from the media center.

An expansion of this industrial area required the demolition of the remaining military buildings from December 2007, unless they were listed as a historical monument , as was the case with the airport building and hangar 2, which was renovated in 2004 . The media center suffered heavy losses when VIVA moved its headquarters to Berlin in March 2005 and VOX and n-tv moved to the Rheinhallen in Cologne-Deutz in September 2010 . The Cologne Broadcasting Center , founded in the media center in 1994 , also moved to the Rheinhallen in September 2010. The regional television broadcaster center.tv Cologne provided a slight temporary compensation from October 2005 (Am Coloneum, Building B), but it moved to Amsterdamer Strasse in December 2014 under the name Köln.tv. What remained are “Am Butzweilerhof” production companies such as Endemol Deutschland GmbH, Constantin Entertainment , Granada Produktion für Film und Fernsehen GmbH or WIGE Media .

Significant buildings not used by the media are the “Butzweiler Stern” and a furniture wholesale market. The "Butzweiler Stern" is an office building complex, completed in December 2006 and constructed in the form of a double "X", with 24080 m² for 48 office units. The anchor tenant with 4600 m² has been the automotive supplier Lear Corporation since December 2014 . In March 2009, the then largest IKEA store in Germany opened with a sales area of ​​42,700 m². Since January 2018, the headquarters of the Cologne employment agency has been located on almost 14,000 m² of land on the former airport site. The building has workplaces for over 600 employees.

Since 2004, an initiative from local residents and companies has been campaigning for the creation of a new Cologne district , which is to be called “Am Butzweilerhof”, and the city of Cologne has already put up signs to enter the town. In total, “Am Butzweilerhof” has more than 400 companies with around 12,000 employees. Since December 2010, the Cologne Stadtbahn has been serving the “Alter Flughafen Butzweilerhof”, “IKEA Am Butzweilerhof” and “Sparkasse Am Butzweilerhof” stops with the extended line 5.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Historical maps Trachot- v. Müffling 1801-1828 (NRW), Prussian first recording 1836-1950 (NRW), Prussian new recording 1891-1921 (NRW). In: kuladig.de. Retrieved October 28, 2019 .
  2. ↑ History of Cologne aviation at butzweilerhof.com
  3. ↑ Carl Anton Werres / Sabine Graumann, The district of Cologne around 1825 , 2007, p. 117
  4. ↑ Jürgen Eichler, Luftschiffe und Luftschifffahrt , 1993, p. 103
  5. ↑ Heribert Suntrop, Der Butzweilerhof and Cologne Aviation, Chronik , 2001, p. 65
  6. ↑ 80 years of civil aviation in Cologne ; HG: Flughafen Köln / Bonn GmbH and Butzweilerhof Foundation. Cologne, 2006, ISBN 3-7616-1995-2 .
  7. ↑ Not to be confused with the airship battalion of the same name, which was housed in the airship barracks in Cologne
  8. ^ John Stroud, Airports of the World , 1980, p. 127
  9. ↑ Marko Gebert, fortress and city of Cologne , 2013, p. 386
  10. ↑ Paul Fuchs (ed.), Chronik zur Geschichte der Stadt Köln , Volume 2, 1991, p. 202
  11. ^ Rolf Watzka, City of Cologne , 2014, p. 171
  12. ↑ Hiltrud Kier et al. (Ed.): Architecture of the 30s / 40s in Cologne. Materials on building history under National Socialism. (= Writings of the NS Documentation Center of the City of Cologne, Volume 5.) Emons, Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-89705-103-6 , p. 151ff. and p. 456ff.
  13. ↑ www.koelner-luftfahrt.de
  14. ↑ Werner Treibel, History of the German Airports , 1992, p. 299
  15. ↑ cf. Bundeswehr location database
  16. ↑ Erich Schmidt-Eenboom: The shadow warrior. Klaus Kinkel and the BND . Econ, Düsseldorf 1995, ISBN 3-430-18014-7 , pp. 261 .
  17. ↑ Rheinische Industriekultur e. V .: Cologne Airport Butzweiler Hof. Rheinische Industriekultur e. V., accessed on January 13, 2016 .
  18. ↑ Sufficient distance to the monument. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . May 6, 2015, accessed February 13, 2016 .
  19. ↑ MOTORWORLD Cologne - Rhineland , accessed on June 18, 2018.
  20. ↑ Dirk Drenk, Medienstädte in Deutschland , 2002, p. 57
  21. ↑ It takes over the distribution of signals to satellites for RTL, SUPER RTL, n-tv and VOX and offers satellite connections

Web links

Commons : Flughafen Butzweilerhof  - Collection of images

Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 50 ″  N , 6 ° 53 ′ 49 ″  E