Sabadell Airport
Aeropuerto de Sabadell Aeroport de Sabadell |
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Characteristics | |
ICAO code | LELL |
IATA code | QSA |
Coordinates | |
Height above MSL | 148 m (486 ft ) |
Transport links | |
Distance from the city center | 10 km north of Barcelona |
Basic data | |
opening | August 1, 1934 |
operator | AENA |
Start-and runway | |
13/31 | 1050 m × 45 m asphalt |
The Sabadell Airport ( IATA : QSA , ICAO : LELL ; . Katal Aeroport de Sabadell , . Span Aeropuerto de Sabadell ) is Barcelona's airport for general aviation .
history
The airport in Sabadell was opened on August 1, 1934 as a military airfield of the Republic of Spain with civilian joint use.
With the outbreak of the civil war , the airfield became an important base for the republican air forces, which opened hangars and workshops. In the further course of the war, Soviet Polikarpow I-15 “Chato” fighters were also built under license here. Several squadrons lay here to defend Barcelona. Aircraft production came to a standstill in mid-January 1939, and at the end of the month the place was captured by Franco troops. After the conquest by the National Spaniards, reconnaissance squadron 88 of the Condor Legion moved to Sabadell at the end of January 1939. In addition to the Dornier Do 17 “Bacalao” and Heinkel He 45 “Pavo” aircraft, which had already been flown , some of the then new Henschel Hs 126 “Super Pavo” were also used for their first use in the last days of the war in Catalonia .
After the war ended, Sabadell became home to the local aviation club, which merged with Barcelona in the early 1950s, and after 1948, military use was significantly reduced. The following year, for the first time after the war, there was an “Aviation Week”, which is still taking place in a contemporary way. The airport was expanded in the first half of the 1950s, but development came to a standstill in 1963 due to a new height restriction in the area around the square. Plans to relocate the airport later came to nothing.
The military use finally ended in 1965 and after 1970 there was a renewed boom due to the building height regulations, which were loosened again in the meantime, through the stationing of fire-fighting aircraft, police and rescue helicopters. General aviation passenger flights were approved in 1978 and since then Sabadell Airport has experienced a steady boom thanks to this segment of aviation.
Individual evidence