Bautzen airfield

Bautzen airfield
Characteristics
ICAO code	EDAB
Coordinates	51 ° 11 '37 "  N , 14 ° 31' 11"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 11 '37 "  N , 14 ° 31' 11"  E
Height above MSL	173 m (568  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	6 km east of Bautzen
train	Bautzen train station
Local transport	Bus connection rental car on site
Basic data
opening	1938
operator	Bautzen airport operator company mbH
Employees	6th
Runways
07/25	2200 m × 50 m concrete
07/25	1000 m × 40 m grass

The airfield Bautzen (colloquially airfield Litten ) is a German airfield in Saxony . It is located six kilometers east of the city of Bautzen near the federal motorway 4 . From 1958 to 1990, the airfield was in use by the pilots training squadron 25 of the OHS for military aviators of the NVA air forces .

The airfield is used in particular by commercial charter flights, for cargo flights, by private pilots, for pilot training and for commercial works traffic. A rescue helicopter and a helicopter from the federal police are also stationed on site. The open spaces are regularly used for major events, for example for the VW Pentecost meeting and the Tuning Summer Camp . Since 2004, the largest air show in Saxony, the Flugtage Bautzen, has also taken place every summer .

history

The first military use as a parade ground for the Bautzen garrison began in 1910. From 1939 on, the air force began building a port of operations. In 1940 eleven barracks were built to house the staff, as a workshop, kitchen and to house the guards. A large aircraft hangar was built in the south-west of the area. The airport was used by the A / B 1 pilot school from Görlitz. The unit, which was renamed the A 1 pilot school in October 1943 , trained crews during the war until it ceased operations on January 21, 1945. From February onwards, combat units of the Luftwaffe use the airfield as a base for operations against the Red Army . These were different parts of the supplementary fighter squadron 1 and the close reconnaissance group 15 . The 3rd season of Night Battle Group 4 also moved to Bautzen-Litten on February 12th. Air defense, consisting of a quadruple anti-aircraft gun, was also stationed on the airfield, but was no longer used effectively.

After the end of the war, all the buildings were demolished and the site was used for agricultural purposes. 1952 began the first measurements for a renewed military aviation use. In 1953, the first provisional runway made of metal plates was built, which was replaced by a concrete runway in 1956/57; at the same time, concrete taxiways and parking areas were built. On August 16, 1952, the 3rd Fighter Regiment was set up in Bautzen, which began training flying personnel on Yak 18 training aircraft on October 1 of the same year . The third JFR went on 1 December 1953 at the 3rd Aero Club on the turn after the founding of the NVA was disbanded in September 1956th

In January 1958, the 1954 established and now newly formed Fliegerausbildungsgeschwader 2 (FAG-2), later FAG-25, occupied the Bautzen airfield. Its equipment consisted of MiG-15 fighter aircraft of the versions "bis" and "UTI". In 1965, an additional storage area made of metal plates was built at the eastern end. In 1963, the squadron received the Czechoslovak L-29 training aircraft . From 1977 it then trained with the successor L-39 . In the summer of 1985, a squadron of MiG-21 fighter planes was stationed at the airfield for about 3 weeks . The flight operations with these fighters caused an enormous increase in noise pollution in the surrounding towns, some of which are in the immediate vicinity. In particular, the regular supersonic flights were a major nuisance for the residents due to the often associated sonic boom. A comprehensive reconstruction began on May 1, 1988, during which the airfield was closed. The reconstruction of the airfield was carried out by several civil construction companies such as the BMK Bautzen , but also supported by so-called spade soldiers of the NVA . During the reconstruction work, the airfield was still managed by the military and accordingly shielded and guarded. The FAG-25 moved to Garz and later to Rothenburg , where it was disbanded due to the political events in 1990. Up until this point in time, the entire corridor of the airfield was in a military security area , which was generously laid out and clearly marked with appropriate signs and was taboo for all foreign institutions, regardless of whether they were military or diplomatic.

Technical equipment / service

• Lighting
• Instrument approach / departure procedures (RNAV)
• Aircraft up to 14 t MTOW, above that PPR (2h)
• Handling service (LausitzAviation)

literature

• Thomas Bussmann: Reinforced concrete, grass and railway lights - the airfields used by the military in the GDR . MediaScript, Cottbus, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-9814822-0-1 .
• Jürgen Zapf: Airfields of the Air Force 1934–1945 - and what was left of them. Volume 2: Saxony . VDM , Zweibrücken 2001, ISBN 3-925480-62-5 .

Web links

Commons : Bautzen Airfield  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Bautzen airfield - official website
• Flugservice Bautzen Flight school and aviation company at Bautzen airfield
• LausitzAviation Handling and FBO
• IDECON team major events at Bautzen airfield
• Flugtage-bautzen.de Flugtage Bautzen

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wilfried Copenhagen: The air forces of the NVA. Motorbuch, Stuttgart 2002, pp. 57/58.