Brandis-Waldpolenz Airport

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Brandis-Waldpolenz Airport
Brandis-Waldpolenz Airfield (Saxony)
Red pog.svg
Characteristics
Coordinates

51 ° 19 '42 "  N , 12 ° 39' 25"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 19 '42 "  N , 12 ° 39' 25"  E
Height above MSL 180 m (591  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center 3 km east of Brandis
Basic data
opening 1934
Start-and runway
08/26 2200 m × 30 m concrete

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The airfield Brandis Waldpolenz was a German air base in the former Muldentalkreis in Saxony . The airfield had its own siding on the Beucha – Trebsen railway line .

history

The airfield was built for the Blindflugschule 1 in 1934/1935 with a 1800 meter long and 80 meter wide runway (SLB). The airfield was used, among other things, as a test site by Junkers AG in Dessau , and the Sack AS-6 experimental aircraft was tested here. A second SLB and a final assembly hall for the Me 163 rocket fighter could not be completed by the end of the Second World War . From November 1943 to early April 1944, the II./Kampfgeschwader 1 converted to the Heinkel He 177 here . In 1944/45, the place was bombed several times by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and damaged by a German demolition squad. The following table shows a list of selected active flying units (excluding school and supplementary units) of the Air Force that were stationed here between 1939 and 1945.

From To unit equipment
August 1939 September 1939 Staff, I./JG 3 (Staff and I. Group of Jagdgeschwader 3) Messerschmitt Bf 109E
October 1939 October 1939 Wekusta 1 (weather investigation relay 1) Heinkel He 111 , Junkers Ju 86P
August 1943 May 1944 IV./NJG 5 (IV. Group of the Night Fighter Squadron 5) Messerschmitt Bf 110C-7 , Messerschmitt Bf 110G-2, Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4, Messerschmitt Bf 110F-4
November 1943 April 1944 II./KG 1 (II. Group of Kampfgeschwader 1) Heinkel He 177A-3
March 1944 May 1940 III./NJG 5 Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4, Messerschmitt Bf 110F-4
April 1944 August 1944 I./KG 1 Heinkel He 177A-3
July 1944 September 1944 Erg.St./JG 400 Messerschmitt Me 163A , Messerschmitt Me 163B
August 1944 August 1944 II./KG 1 Heinkel He 177A-3, Heinkel He 177A-5
August 1944 April 1945 I./JG 400 Messerschmitt Me 163B-1, Messerschmitt Me 163B-2
December 1944 February 1945 II./JG 400 Messerschmitt Me 163B-1
March 1945 March 1945 II./LG 1 (II. Group of training squadron 1) Junkers Ju 88A-4 , Junkers Ju 88S-3
April 1945 April 1945 I., III./JG 7 Messerschmitt Me 262A-1

The USAAF occupied the site on April 17, 1945, followed by the Red Army on July 2, 1945 . In the two following years the damaged airfield buildings were rebuilt or demolished. In 1954, the first were MiG-15 -Strahljäger stationed, and later lying in Brandis mainly attack aircraft - and helicopter units. From 1955 to 1961 Brandis was mainly used as a reserve area. From around 1960 the infrastructure was continuously expanded, the SLB was extended, a flight line and new taxiways were created. The 239th Independent Guard helicopter regiment with Mi-4, Mi-6, Mi-8 and Mi-10 had been stationed here since the early 1960s. In the 1970s, a maintenance hall for the Mi-2 helicopters stationed from 1969 onwards was added to an independent helicopter department and additional residential buildings for the stationed military personnel. A change of stationing followed in 1977, the transport helicopters left the site in the direction of Oranienburg . Instead, the 225th independent combat helicopter regiment followed with Mi-8 and Mi-24, which moved to Allstedt in 1985 . In 1985/86, due to the new stationing of the 357th independent attack aircraft regiment, the flight line was renewed and open fragmentation protection structures were built for the aircraft. In 1989 the 485th independent helicopter regiment was re-formed on the airfield; it was composed of four other combat helicopter squadrons stationed at several airfields. Due to a lack of space, the 269th drone squadron stationed here a few years earlier left the airfield in the direction of Dresden-Hellerau.

The last flights of Soviet units took place in April 1992 by Su-25 aircraft of the 357th Independent Attack Aircraft Regiment and on May 29 of the same year by Mi-8 and Mil Mi-24 of the 485th Independent Helicopter Regiment. In August the last material transports took place with the An-12 and Il-76 . The site was then handed over to the German authorities.

Su-25 of the 357th OSchAP in Brandis (1991)
From To unit equipment Remarks
1948 1949 133rd Gw IAP (Guard Fighter Air Regiment, from 1949 684th Gw IAP) Jak-3 and Jak-9 possibly subordinated to the 234th IAD (fighter pilot division)
1949 1951 845th IAP (Fighter Regiment) Jak-9
1952 1953 197th Gw TAP (Guard Transport Air Regiment) Li-2
1953 1954 unknown SchAP (ground attack regiment) IL-10 Name not sure, only the guard status is known
1954 1956 31. Gw IAP (?) MiG-15 The stationing is not secured, the Falkenberg site is also an option
1962 1977 239th Gw OWP (Independent Guard Helicopter Regiment) Wed-4 , Wed-6 , Wed-8 and Wed-10 Deployment on June 11, 1938 as the 239th OAP (Independent Fliegerregiment) and equipped, among other things, with Li-2 (as of August 1945); via the Far East and Hungary in November 1959 in the GDR initially stationed in Fürstenwalde , from 1962 in Brandis and in September 1977 relocated to Oranienburg ,
directly subordinated to the staff of the GSSD
1969 1989 unknown OWO (helicopter department)
330th OWE OP (independent helicopter squadron for fire support)		 Mi-2 and Mi-8,
later also Mi-9 and Mi-24
Part of the AA (Army Air Force) with subordination to the 9th TD (Panzer Division) in Riesa
1977 1985 225th OBWP (Independent Combat Helicopter Regiment) Wed-8 and Wed-24 Subject to installation in the 1970s as an association of AA, no later than in the 1980s the first Gw TA (Guards Tank Army) in Dresden, mostly in Allstedt stationed
withdrawn in May 1991 as the first association of AA from Germany and after Protasovo air base moved
1985 1986 327. OWE OP Wed-2, Wed-8, Wed-9 and Wed-24 Association of the AA with subordination to the 57th Gw MSD (Motorized Guards Rifle Division) in Naumburg
1985 1992 357th OSchAP (Independent Attack Air Regiment) Su-25 and L-39 Installation in October 1984 in Pruschany , relocated to Brandis in October 1985, inventory in July 1986: 35 aircraft,
on March 23, 1992 relocation of the first six L-39s to Russia, in April 1992 delivery of eight Su-25s to the 368. OSchAP in Tutow , relocation of the remaining Su-25 from April 22 to 28, 1992 from Brandis to Buturlinowka
1985 1989 269th OEBSR (Independent Squadron of Unmanned Reconnaissance Aircraft) WR-3
(reconnaissance drone)		 subordinated to the 1st Gw TA in Dresden; 1989 moved to Dresden – Hellerau; there until 1990
1989 1992 485th OWP BU (Independent helicopter regiment of combat and combat command) Wed-8, Wed-9 and Wed-24 Association of AA; Established in 1988 with subordination to the 1st Gw TA in Dresden, initial inventory of 18 helicopters, one squadron was stationed in Merseburg until June 1991 ,
transfer back to Alakurtti on 25, 27 and 29 May 1992

In 1994 the site was leased to a private individual for use. The airfield was open to visual flight (VFR) until 2005 . Among other things, there was a flight school here and the Leipzig provider for air taxi services and sightseeing flights with helicopters , LipsAir , had its base here. The square has been closed since October 30, 2005.

present

Between 2007 and 2008 and 2011, a company from Wörrstadt built the Waldpolenz solar park on the former airfield site . In 2012, planning and implementation of a biogas plant began. The plant was put into operation in September 2013.

Varia

  • In 1970 the allegedly badly damaged tower dome with lantern of the Polenz Church in Polenz was removed. Reasons for this were, in addition to a lack of construction capacities, the efforts of the GDR authorities to prevent access to the nearby Brandis-Waldpolenz airfield, which was used by the Soviet Army of the USSR .

literature

  • Benjamin Winkler: Radio silence in the forest. Once an armed forces site, later a Soviet air force base: But since the withdrawal of the Russian armed forces, the Brandis-Waldpolenz air base has been like a ghost town. Now it is doomed and will be demolished. A discovery tour between ruins with impressive pictures. Military romance included. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , Muldental edition, February 28, 2015, p. 31 (full-page report with supplementary list of facts)
  • Simone Prenzel: Demolition of a ghost town. The demolition work has started on one of the largest military fallow land in East Germany. A whole city is disappearing from the scene in Waldpolenz these days. The excavator relentlessly applies the tongs to accommodations for soldiers and officers who were stationed here until 1992. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung, Muldental edition, August 8, 2014, p. 27 (almost full-page report)
  • Stefan Büttner: Red places. Russian military airfields Germany 1945–1994. Air bases - aerodromes - military fallow . Ed .: Lutz Freundt. AeroLit, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-935525-11-4 .
  • Jürgen Zapf: Airfields of the Air Force 1934–1945 - and what was left of them Volume 2 - Saxony . Ed .: VDM Heinz Nickel. VDM Heinz Nickel , Zweibrücken 2002, ISBN 978-3-925480-62-1 .
  • Stephen Ransom: Between Leipzig and the Mulde . Brandis Airfield 1935–1945. Stedinger, Lemwerder 1996, ISBN 3-927697-09-5 .
  • Stephen Ransom: Brandis Airfield until 1945 ; Birgitt Jäger: The Waldpolenz airfield after the Second World War. P. 88–94 and P. 95–96 in: Stadt Brandis: Brandis - History of a small Saxon town . 136 pages. Beucha 1996, ISBN 3-930076-38-1

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-1945 Germany (1937 Borders) pp 78-79 , accessed on September 11, 2014
  2. ^ Stefan Büttner: Helicopter in Jüterbog , Barbara report number 19 (2009): Bulletin of the Garrison History Association Jüterbog St. Barbara eV; Ed .: Garrison History Association Jüterbog “St. Barbara “e. V .; Pp. 24-33
  3. ^ Stefan Büttner / Martin Ebert: How the Kremlin gave up the GDR , Flieger Revue extra, 24th issue, 2009, pp. 6-31
  4. ↑ http://www.aerolit.de/fileadmin/pdf/RP_Update5_022010.pdf.pdf Accessed on May 3, 2012
  5. ^ Büttner, Rote Platz , p. 184
  6. ^ Lutz Freundt: Soviet Air Force Germany 1945-1994 . Airfields (part 2) and units. 1st edition. tape 2 . Self-published, Diepholz 1998, ISBN 3-00-002665-7 , p. 30th ff .
  7. ↑ Clean bio natural gas from the new power plant completes the Brandis energy park. In: juwi.de. September 3, 2013, accessed October 30, 2015 .

source