Pilsen airport

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Pilsen (-Líně) airport
Letiště Plzeň (-Líně)
LKLN 2450.jpg
Characteristics
ICAO code LKLN
Coordinates

49 ° 40 ′ 31 "  N , 13 ° 16 ′ 29"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 40 ′ 31 "  N , 13 ° 16 ′ 29"  E
Height above MSL 362 m (1188  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center 10 km southwest of Pilsen
Street D5 / E50Template: RSIGN / Maintenance / EU-E integration
Start-and runway
06/24 1550 m × 60 m concrete

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The airport Pilsen , Czech Letiště Plzeň , sometimes Pilsen-Líně / Plzeň-Líně , is on the territory of the municipalities Dobřany , Nová Ves u Plzně and Zbůch near the southwestern Bohemian town of Pilsen situated civilian special airport.

The former military airfield is still used to a limited extent for military purposes. There is an aviation museum on the edge of the museum.

history

Today's civil airport was built after the beginning of the Cold War in 1952 as a military airfield north of Dobřany. During the Second World War there was already an airfield here . The airfield was given a 2500 m long main runway suitable for jets and a decentralization area around 3 km in the direction of Pilsen with another 2100 m long runway, which was connected to the main runway by a taxiway. This area is now on the other side of the Nuremberg - Prague motorway that was built after the end of the Cold War. Both areas were equipped with shelters .

After its opening, it became the base of the 5th Fighter Regiment, 5th Stíhací Letecký Pluk (5th SLP) of the Air Force of the Czechoslovak People's Army , which was initially equipped with MiG-15 (S102) . On March 10, 1953, a machine of the 5th SLP shot down an F-84 of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) over Czechoslovakian airspace. The MiG-15 were replaced by MiG-19 in 1959 and a school association equipped with Il-10 (Avia B-33) was added from Pilsen-Bory / Plzeň-Bory . This association converted to MiG-15 and L-29 in 1963 and remained stationed in Dobřany until 1969. The 5th SLP converted from 1970 to 1972 to the MiG-21 , which was flown until the end of the Cold War.

At the end of the Cold War and Czechoslovakia , the 5th SLP was still located here, which was mainly equipped with MiG-21 and some L-29 and L-39 . The regiment was disbanded in August 1991. In October 1991, the airfield became the base of the Mi-2 and Mi-8 helicopters of the 11th Helicopter Regiment, 11th Vrtulníkový Pluk (11th VRP), which had previously been stationed at the Pilsen-Bory / Plzeň-Bory airfield closer to the city center in the second half of the 1980s.

After the division of the country there was a helicopter squadron Mi-17 and Mi-24 of the 11th VRP of the Air Force of the Czech Republic . The regiment was also disbanded during 1994.

A SAR station has been located here since 1994, which initially used Mi-2 and Mi-17 helicopters and which were replaced in 2010 by the more modern Sokol W3 HEMS aircraft. In addition to a flight test center, Škoda Air also uses the airfield, which has also been used for civil purposes since 2000.

Military use

After the helicopter regiment was dissolved, part of the airfield remained with the military. A detachment of the 243rd helicopter squadron, 243rd vrtulníkovou letka (243rd vrlt), of the Czech Air Force is stationed here, whose W-3W Sokol provides SAR and air rescue services for the Pilsen and Karlovy Vary regions in uninterrupted operation .

Civil use

The airfield is mainly used by general aviation .

Others

Next to the airport there is another airfield and during the 20th century the first civil airport existed closer to the city.

Pilsen-Letkov Airport

The small airfield with a grass runway is located southeast of the city near the motorway to Prague. It is home to the Pilsen Aeroclub.

Pilsen-Bory Airport

The Pilsen-Bory airfield was located southwest of the city center. The airfield, known as Pilsen airfield in German, was built before the Second World War. It had a main runway in alignment 10/28.

After the German occupation of Pilsen began in 1938, the square became an air force base . During the German occupation, Pilsen was home to the II. Group of Jagdgeschwader 77 (JG 77), von Stab, I. and III. Group of Kampfgeschwaders (Jagd) 30 (KG (J) 30), IV. Group of Kampfgeschwaders 4 (IV./KG) and the pilot school A / B 13 'Pilsen-Süd'.

Airfield and Pilsen / Plzeň were liberated by the 16th Armored Division of General Patton's Third United States Army in early May 1945 .

During the Cold War, the airfield was still used militarily, most recently by the helicopters of the 11th regiment (see above). After 1990 the airfield was closed and in the course of the conversion it was built into an industrial area. One of the resident companies is typically a supplier to the aviation industry.

Web links