Deiningen airfield
| Deiningen airfield | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Characteristics | |||
| Coordinates | |||
| Height above MSL | 420 m (1378 ft ) | ||
| Transport links | |||
| Distance from the city center | 2 km north of Deiningen , 7 km northeast of Nördlingen |
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| train | Railway line Nördlingen – Wemding | ||
| Basic data | |||
| opening | 1936 | ||
| closure | 1945 | ||
| operator | Luftwaffe (Wehrmacht) | ||
| surface | 82 ha | ||
| Runways | |||
| ENE / WSW | 775 m × 80 m concrete | ||
| ENE / WSW | 1050 m × 780 m grass | ||
The airfield Deiningen was an air base in the Swabian district of Donau-Ries . It was located in what is now the municipality of Deiningen and was operated by the Air Force until 1945.
geography
The airfield was located on a hill in the Nördlinger Ries at an altitude of 420 m . The area was drained by the Lohgraben to the east to the valley of the Wörnitz , to the west it slopes down to the Eger .
history
The airfield was built from 1935 and expanded into an operational airfield in 1939. A commandant's office disguised as a farm was built for this purpose. There were drinking water cisterns, tanks for aviation fuel and five hidden ammunition bunkers in the nearby forest.
The airfield was a branch track of the railway line Nördlingen Wemding supplies. There was a square runway, one kilometer long, camouflaged as a meadow. Later a concrete runway and runway lighting for night flights. The airfield was mainly used for training and as an alternative landing facility and was bombed six times by Allies from April 1944 to April 1945 . At the end of the war, the ammunition bunkers were blown up by the American army . The remains can still be seen in the forest today.
Reuse
After the Second World War , the preserved buildings were used as accommodation for up to 440 displaced persons and were used intensively for agriculture until at least the 1980s. After some vacancy, the farm buildings were finally demolished in 2017. The area is now considered an armaments contaminated site .