Airfields in Vienna

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The airfields and airfield projects listed here are limited in time to the era of " flying heavier than air " and spatially to the largest expansion of the city during the Nazi regime ( Greater Vienna ). However, three airfields that were not in the urban area of ​​Greater Vienna were also included in this list. The Ebergassing airfield was right on the border between Vienna and Niederdonau. Langenlebarn airfield was the airport for the US occupation forces in Vienna during the occupation. The same was true of the Soviet Union with Bad Vöslau airfield.

monarchy

Simmeringer Haide airfield

The Simmeringer Haide was first used as an airfield on October 23, 1909, when a show flying with Louis Blériot was held. On October 27 of the same year, Captain Emanuel Quoika made flight attempts as the first officer of the Austro-Hungarian Army. Karl Illner undertook his long-haul flight Wiener Neustadt - Simmering - Wiener Neustadt with an Etrich pigeon on May 17, 1910 . In June 1911 a flight competition Vienna - Budapest - Vienna was held. After that, the Simmeringer Haide lost its importance as an airfield and flight operations were discontinued.

Aspern airfield

After the founding of Wiener Flugfeld Ges.mbH on January 25, 1912, the “1. International Flight Week ”. In 1913 the flight parks 8 and 14 of the kuk aviation troop were founded. On March 20, 1918, the mail and courier service started for the first time with the route Vienna - Krakow - Lviv - Kiev . Between August 31 and November 1918, this route was flown as planned.

In 1934 Aspern Airfield was determined to be the location of the government aircraft, a Douglas DC-2 . In 1936 this machine was sold to Swissair . During the Austrian Civil War , Godwin Brumowski started the only combat mission of the air force of the Federal Army of the First Republic against the Goethehof from here .

Under the Nazi rule in Austria, the importance as a commercial airport increased, but the facility was then used by the Air Force .

It was used by the Red Army during the occupation after World War II .

After the signing of the State Treaty in 1955, Austria took control of the heavily damaged facilities again. In the 1970s, a flight school was established here, the most famous of which is Niki Lauda .

Aspern airfield was closed on March 31, 1977 and flight operations ceased. On December 18, 1978, the operating license was withdrawn.

Fischamend airfield

In 1909, the Austro-Hungarian Aeronautical Institute was looking for a new airfield that was still intended for operation with airships , as the area near the arsenal was too small. From 1911 the airfield in Fischamend was used to fly in new aircraft of the Austro-Hungarian Air Force. In 1914 radio contact with a flying airplane was established here for the first time, and in 1917 a wind tunnel was built together with the Technical University in Vienna .

In accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Saint Germain , all aeronautical facilities were dismantled or destroyed. This work was completed on February 14, 1921.

During the Second World War, the area served the German Air Force as a makeshift airfield.

Hennersdorf factory airfield

In 1913, the Wiener Karosserie- und Flugzeugfabrik (WKF) Doktor Wilhelm von Gutmann started producing aircraft in Schumanngasse. The final assembly and the flying in of the aircraft took place at Aspern airfield.

In 1916 the company moved to Laxenburger Strasse 131–135 and in 1917 a company airfield with final assembly was built in Hennersdorf .

According to the provisions of the Peace Treaty of Saint Germain, the factory had to stop production. This meant that there was no longer any need for the works airfield either and it was closed.

1st republic

Jedlesee airfield

  • Land planes:
The plans for a second airfield in Vienna were made while the Entente controlled the airfield in Aspern . The area was on the left bank of the Danube near Jedlesee at the level of the Nussdorf landing stage .
On May 14, 1923, the chief pilot of Junkers & Co. , Hans Baur , landed for the first time in a Junkers F 13 at the new airfield. From 23 May there was regular air traffic between Vienna and Munich .
  • Seaplanes:
From July 16, 1923 the regular service to Budapest with seaplanes was started. In the capital of Hungary the landing stage was at the Hotel Gellért , so that the flights were (almost) guided from city center to city center.
In 1924 the airfield for land planes was relocated to Aspern and that for seaplanes to the Reichsbrücke .

Reichsbrücke landing site

The first landing at the Reichsbrücke landing site for seaplanes was carried out on January 11, 1923 by a Junkers F-13. It was mainly used by the Hungarian airline Aero-Express. Between April 21 and December 31, 1924, OELAG flew to Budapest every day except Sundays. From August 7, 1924, OELAG also started the route Vienna-Reichsbrücke - Linz - Wels - Sankt Wolfgang im Salzkammergut .

Winterhafen station

The Winterhafen station for swimmer and flying boats was used by OELAG and the Hungarian airline Aero-Express between May 4 and September 30, 1925.

During the Second World War, float planes of the Luftwaffe were stationed in the Winterhafen to clear mines that had been thrown from the air and took off from here. When floating planes and flying boats were moved between northern Germany and the Mediterranean, the Danube was used for stopovers.

Jetty at the Kahlenbergerdorf

The boat dock at Kahlenbergerdorf was from April 23, 1928 Anchorage for a Lohner flying boat of the former Navy of Austria-Hungary . In September 1928 the flying boat was relocated to Pörtschach am Wörthersee . There it was named "Nelly" and was used for sightseeing flights.

"Mauer International Airport"

To relieve Aspern Airport , the project of a Wall Airport was discussed in 1925. The 1st Austrian Flight Conference took place in Mauer on November 12, 1925 and a propaganda flight from Aspern to Mauer on November 29, 1925 .

After the work had started, the 2nd Austrian Flight Conference took place in Mauer on February 14, 1926. On July 3, 1927, a flight day with 40,000 spectators took place at the Mauer airfield .

On October 3, 1929, the operating license was withdrawn.

Inzersdorf Airfield (project)

As a successor to the closed “International Airport Mauer”, the municipal council of Mauer wanted to build an airfield in the municipality of Inzersdorf . However, the project also failed.

Third Reich

Schwechat

The official start of construction for today 's Vienna-Schwechat Airport was the groundbreaking ceremony on May 14, 1938 by Hermann Göring . After the completion, the fighter pilot school 5 was stationed here.

In 1942 parts of the Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugwerke were relocated to Schwechat and a 1,500 meter long concrete runway was laid out for aircraft testing. From August 1943, there were repeated bombing raids.

After the aircraft factory had been commissioned with the production of the Heinkel He 162 “Volksjäger” - this took place in the Seegrotte near Hinterbrühl - the aircraft were flown in here. In March 1945 the plant was relocated to the west. The Red Army captured the airfield on April 5, 1945.

On July 24, 1945, the airfield was handed over to the British and French occupation forces, who also used it for civilian purposes through British European Airways BEA and Air France, despite protests by the Soviets. Because of the increasing air traffic, the runway had to be renovated in 1952. During this time, flight operations were handled via Langenlebarn .

Even during the occupation, the Austrian federal government was given a say in Schwechat Airport. Flughafen Wien Betriebsgesellschaft was founded on December 11, 1953 and started operations on January 1, 1954.

Langenlebarn

The German Air Force took up the plans drawn up by the Federal Army of the 1st Republic for an air base east of Tulln on the Danube in Lower Austria and began construction in September 1938.

During the Second World War, despite the heavy bombing raids on Vienna further to the east and the armaments factories to the west, the air base itself became a target late on.

In July 1945, the US troops were assigned to the airport located in the Soviet occupation zone. The connection route between the "US Air Force Station Tulln - Vienna" and the city of Vienna, which was occupied by all four allies, was contractually agreed, but there were repeated problems on the route.

From June 1946, the American airline " Pan American World Airways (PanAm)" began regular service from New York to Langenlebarn. In the same year, the name of the airfield was changed to "Army Air Base Tulln" for the rest of the occupation .

In 1967 the barracks were named "Brumowski Langenlebarn-Tulln Air Base" after the flying ace of the First World War , Godwin Brumowski .

Twelve axing

Construction of the Zwölfaxing airfield began in April 1938. The A / B 114 pilot school was stationed here, which was relocated to Langenlebarn near Tulln during the preparations for the Balkan campaign to make room for the second combat wing. Then it served again for training purposes.

In the summer of 1943, training was stopped and the airfield was handed over to the Heinkel works on August 3, in order to test the Heinkel He 177 here .

In 1944, the airfield was repeatedly bombed by the US Air Force , with some buildings being destroyed. The German Air Force repeatedly stationed fighter squadrons here. In March 1945 the planes were relocated to the west and the intact facilities were blown up by the German Wehrmacht .

During the occupation the Red Army occupied the airfield. After they were withdrawn, a check showed that rebuilding was impossible. The former airfield is now used by the Austrian armed forces under the name Burstyn barracks .

Seyring

In Seyring , an external landing pad was built for the pilot schools in Langenlebarn, Schwechat and Zwölfaxing. 1940/1941 plans arose to expand Seyring to replace the Aspern airfield. Fighter Wing 302 was stationed here between February and June 1944 to protect aircraft factories and oil plants in the Vienna area. The withdrawing German troops destroyed the airfield on April 8, 1945. The first units of the Red Army occupied the airfield on April 12, 1945. On July 20, 1951, the Austrian Model and Sports Aviation Club "Wilhelm R. Kress" received approval to carry out a glider operation. The flight operations could not be started until 1953. On Monday, August 26, 1957, two Czechoslovak citizens fled to Austria in a sports plane and landed at the former Seyring airfield. On May 3, 1981, the former airfield moved back into the public eye. The Czechoslovak pilot Vaclav Otahal fled to Austria with his wife and son in an agricultural plane and landed at the former airfield. Today only a few remains of the airfield and its facilities have survived. In the course of the road construction work for the northern motorway, other remains of the air base disappeared forever.

Ebergassing

A field airfield built in Ebergassing was used by the Air Force and the National Socialist Aviation Corps NSFK . Since the evacuation in April 1945 there has been no more flight operations.

Münchendorf

The airfield in Münchendorf was in April 1941 by the III. Group of Kampfgeschwader 2 occupied for the preparation of the Balkan campaign . Later fighter planes were stationed here for the defense of the Reich . The heaviest air attack by the US Air Force took place on July 16, 1944 and resulted in numerous deaths among the ground personnel and the air defense. In 1945 the airfield was destroyed by the Wehrmacht.

2nd republic

American airfield in Heiligenstadt

An airfield for air traffic with small single-engine aircraft was built along the Danube Canal in autumn 1945 above the Heiligenstadt Bridge , which was operated by the US Army until the end of the occupation in 1955. The American general Mark W. Clark used it with a Stinson L-5 ("Big Boss") to avoid problems in the Soviet zone when leaving Vienna for Langenlebarn or in the western occupation zones. Military transfer flights were set up from here to Tulln Air Base , as the Brumowski Air Base in Langenlebarn was then called. In 1953 and 1954, with the approval of Brigadier General Fitts, so-called whooping cough flights were also carried out for Viennese children from Heiligenstadt. On Thursday, August 18, 1955, flight operations in Heiligenstadt ceased and the airfield was cleared.

British airfield Schönbrunn

The British airfield was built in the summer of 1945 for small single-engine aircraft between the area of Schönbrunn Palace and the Vienna River . Flight operations continued until the departure from Austria in 1955.

The British airfield at Küniglberg

On January 15, 1951, Mayor Jonas was informed by the British occupying forces that a field airfield was to be built on the site of the former barracks on Küniglberg. The runway, which should be 30 meters wide and 300 meters long, was laid out between the buildings. In August 1951, the work was completed and the first take-offs and landings were carried out. The Viennese professional fire brigade should put a fire watch on take-offs and landings. On November 30, 1951, the strip even occupied the Allied Council. At the meeting, the Soviet High Commissioner accused his British colleague of building an airfield for heavy transport aircraft on Küniglberg. Ambassador Sir Harold Caccia invited his Soviet counterpart to a tour of the landing site to convince himself that only small liaison aircraft could take off and land on the Küniglberg. On May 6, 1955, the airfield was handed over to representatives of the Vienna City Council.

Simmering Airport (project)

In the event that the Soviet Union would impose a Berlin-style blockade over Vienna , the western allies planned to build an airfield suitable for large aircraft in one of the city's occupied districts.

According to the plans of the US Army, this should be built on the Simmeringer Haide in the first expansion phase. The US Air Force, which was later called in, complained about the runway that was planned too short and pointed out the need for an electronic approach aid. In early 1948, the responsible Air Force commander General Curtis E. LeMay approved the construction.

In a second expansion stage, a second runway was to be built east of the Vienna Central Cemetery on the site of today's central workshop of Wiener Linien .

The end of the Berlin blockade also ended the planning work at the Simmering airfield for the time being. The idea came back to life during the Korean War , but this time with the cooperation of the City of Vienna. However, the latter was skeptical of the project, because a large number of nurseries that supplied the city with food would have had to give way to the airport in order to be able to fly in food.

Dornbach Airfield (project)

As an alternative to the large airfield in Simmering, the airfield Dornbach was up for discussion. It was planned along the Alszeile , but would only have been suitable for the less powerful Douglas C-47s . The Dornbach-Alszeile project was ranked fourth among the projects examined.

Nussberg Airfield (project)

Another airfield project by the Western Allies after the communist unrest of October 1950 was the construction of a 3,600-foot runway on the Nussberg plateau in Vienna's 19th district. After evaluating all ongoing projects, the Nussberg project was ranked third.

Krottenbachstrasse airfield (project)

Members of the US Army examined Krottenbachstrasse in the American sector of Vienna. After the assessment, a positive evaluation of the project was given. On an area between Krottenbachstrasse and Hackenberggasse, a runway 3,600 feet long in NW-SE was to be built. The Krottenbachstrasse project was ranked fifth and thus last of the projects examined.

Schönbrunn Palace Park Airport (project)

The lack of suitable land for the construction of a large airfield in the districts of the Western Allies also led the US Army experts to the grounds of the Schönbrunn Palace Park . The Schönbrunn Palace Park project was ranked second among the projects examined.

From 1955

External landing sites in urban facilities

The Sensengasse sports field is separated from the AKH premises by Spitalgasse. He was approached by transports for the 2nd trauma surgery, but the patients had to be picked up with an ambulance. Facilities for air traffic control were not available.
  • General hospital - external landing area 1st courtyard
The 1st courtyard is part of the hospital area and was used for patient transport for the 1st trauma surgery. However, the helicopters were hindered by trees in the courtyard and the buildings.
  • General Hospital - Ostarrichi Park Airfield
The Ostarrichi-Park external landing site between the Oesterreichische Nationalbank and Alser Straße replaced the external landing site in the 1st courtyard of the General Hospital.
  • External landing site New General Hospital
The New General Hospital external landing site went into operation on July 1, 1991 after the University Clinic for Emergency Medicine had moved to the new General Hospital. All of the AKH external landing sites mentioned so far have been abandoned.
The two external landing sites of the SMZ Ost in the 22nd district of Vienna have been in operation since April 8, 1992.
An external landing pad is located on the roof of the operating wing and is approved for helicopters with a maximum total weight of three tons.
The second external landing pad was created on the side in front of the hospital building and is approved for helicopters with a maximum total weight of five tons.

Further external landing sites of the Viennese hospitals

These external landing areas are provisional landing areas that often cannot be approached at night.

The external landing fields of these hospitals are no longer served

External landing areas in barracks and federal buildings

This airfield may only be approached by helicopters of the executive, the Austrian Armed Forces and the rescue. Landing of private helicopters is only permitted with prior approval from the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
It has been in operation since October 31, 1956, the former parade ground was used as the take-off and landing site until 1967, after which a new landing site was built.
From 1991 the Martin emergency helicopter flew from here. On April 1, 2001, the emergency helicopter was relocated to Aspern.
The sports field of the Maria Theresien barracks is mainly used as a landing pad for VIP flights. A flight that attracted much attention was the transfer flight of Cardinal Franz König and his secretary in 1960 , who were both seriously injured in a car accident in Yugoslavia and were brought to Vienna in an army helicopter.
  • The helipad on the roof of the Westbahnhof:
On Friday, October 21, 1955, the newspaper "Neues Österreich" reported on the plan to build a helipad on the roof of the new Westbahnhof. The newspaper reported under the headline: "Helicopter airport on the roof of the Westbahnhof post office":
“... At the Westbahnhof post office, however, they also thought about the future in advance. The roof of the building is designed as a landing pad for helicopters. Later on, helicopters can pick up the mail items destined for Schwechat Airport and bring them to the aircraft ready for departure within a few minutes. Today two Volkswagen are taking care of these transports. Including the manipulation, it currently takes two hours for the mail to get from the fifteenth district to Schwechat and on board the machine "
After the construction work was completed, the first helicopter landing on Thursday, June 21, 1956, received extensive coverage in all media. In addition to numerous newspaper articles, a film report was also shown in the Austria Wochenschau. However, flight operations never started and the project was abandoned.

Outside landing areas of the Vienna Police Department

As part of executive operations, helicopter landings are carried out in the Rossauer barracks and on Liechtenwerder Platz.

Danube Island external landing sites

These external landing sites on the Danube Island were created for VIP flights.

Outside landing area ORF center

The ORF Center external landing site on the Rosenhügel in Vienna was originally approached by an ORF-owned helicopter. After this was sold for cost reasons, the area was used for other purposes.

ASKÖ-Sportflugzentrum Donauwiese

From April 24, 1960 until the construction of the Danube Island, ASKÖ operated an aviation area on the Donauwiese near Jedlesee.

External landing pad at the General Motors plant

Since, according to a decision by the federal government, the ÖAMTC was to take over the rescue flights in Austria, a replacement landing site for the emergency doctor helicopter (previously Meidlinger Trainkaserne) had to be found. General Motors provided a landing pad on the factory site, where a new hangar and accommodation rooms were built for the crew in 2004. Since then, Christophorus 9 from the Christophorus Air Rescue Association has been stationed on the field with the ICAO code LOAJ .

literature

  • Hubert Prigl: "Known and unknown airfields and airfield projects in Vienna from 1909 to today"

Web links