Detmold airfield
| Detmold Air Base Detmold Air Base RAF Detmold Hobart Barracks |
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| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | EDLJ |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 190 m (623 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 1.5 km northeast of Detmold |
| Street | Volkwinstrasse |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1934 |
| operator | Luftsportverein Detmold eV |
| surface | 109 ha |
| Terminals | 2 |
| Start-and runway | |
| 09/27 | 510 m × 9 m asphalt (including 360 × 18) |
The airfield Detmold is a special airfield in East Westphalia-Lippe and in 1934 on the northeastern outskirts of the airfield opened. It was built primarily for the operation of powered aircraft, but is now also used as a take-off and landing pad for gliders.
history
The Treaty of Versailles forbade Germany to powered flight , with the result that the development of gliding sport was favored. There were also some aviation enthusiasts in Detmold who founded the Lippe Association for Aviation on April 18, 1924 . The public funding of aviation was not allowed, but on the initiative of the most important sponsor Heinrich Kühlmuss enough private funds were collected. Some Detmold teachers encouraged their students to be enthusiastic about aviation and so the first flights were soon started on the Königsberg. These were rubber rope starts in which a crew of four to ten people started the glider down the slope with a thin rubber rope. In 1931 there was an air show with a large number of spectators. However, there were also simulated dogfights and bombing, which made it clear that it was a military promotional event.
At the beginning of 1934 the construction of the Detmold air base of the still camouflaged Luftwaffe began in the Detmold district of Hohenloh on an area of 109 hectares in total, which was inaugurated on October 14, 1934. The glider pilots were allowed to use the airfield for a short time, but after just three months the conversion into a military airfield, which was also connected to a flying school, began. A number of buildings were built to house, train and supply the aviators. Several large hangars were also built. The entire area about 1.5 kilometers from the city center was declared a restricted military area and civilians were no longer allowed to enter. The air base mainly served to train prospective pilots. Among other things, the Aviator Training Regiment 72, the Aviation School A / B 119 and the Aviation Technical School 7 were stationed here. From March to April 1940 and from November 1940 to January 1941 active flying units of the Luftwaffe also occupied the place, such as III./JG 3 ( III.Group of Jagdgeschwader 3) and II./JG 27 .
The air base was not bombed during World War II , but was attacked by American and British fighters. At the end of March 1945, shortly before the American invasion, large parts of the airfield were blown up.
After their arrival in the first days of April 1945, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) expanded Airfield R.14 , its allied code name, into a provisional supply base ( Supply & Evacuation Field / Tactical Air Depot ). For this purpose, the runways were fixed and lengthened with iron plates. The heavy cargo planes landed every minute until the second half of June, sometimes all night.
Six months after the arrival of the Americans, the British Royal Air Force arrived . The Royal Air Force Station Detmold , RAF Detmold for short , was initially home to the 652nd Squadron , an Air Observation Post unit of the RAF, whose personnel were recruited from the RAF and the British Army .
The squadron was transferred to the newly established Army Air Corps in September 1957 and later converted to helicopters. The airfield was handed over to the British Army, who renamed it Hobart Barracks . In the further course of the Cold War , the city was garrison of the 20th British Armored Brigade of the British Army of the Rhine and continued to use the airfield as a heliport . It was also flown to by Hawker Siddeley Harrier, who were stationed in RAF Gütersloh , in the 1970 / 1980s . In the last years of the Cold War, this is where the 4th Regiment of the Army Air Corps, now in Wattisham , lay with the Gazelle AH1 and Lynx AH7 helicopters . In July 1995 the British left the airfield.
The civil use of the former military property is based on a contract signed in August 1999 between the Federal Property Administration and the City of Detmold. As a first measure, additional roads had to be built, which improved the connection to the city center of Herberhausen without having to bypass the area. There was a private investor who had an overall concept for the entire site and all buildings. However, the city of Detmold was unable to approve a guarantee for one million DM and since parts of the property had already been sold, the investor withdrew his offer.
Todays use
Today the airfield is home to the Luftsportverein Detmold, which is divided into the three categories of gliding , powered gliding and powered flight. Flight students are trained in all three branches. The association has around 175 members, including many young people.
Some of the old buildings and hangars are now used commercially. Schools are a focus of civilian use: the 13th elementary school, the British elementary school, the Christian secondary school and the school for educational assistance. A kindergarten was set up next to the 13th elementary school. The community psychiatric center is responsible for the basic psychiatric care of the Lippe district. The listed buildings along Richthofenstrasse are intended for use by service companies and retailers and as living space.
literature
- Christian Kuhnke: Lippe Lexicon . Boken Verlag, Detmold 2000, ISBN 3-935454-00-7
- City of Detmold (ed.): Detmold in the post-war period. Documentation of an urban history project. Aisthesis Verlag, Bielefeld 1994, ISBN 3-925670-94-7
- City of Detmold (ed.): Detmold-Hohenloh. Listed buildings and open spaces in the former air base. Without year (after 1999), 70 pages.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Luftwaffe Airfields 1935-45 Germany (1937 Borders) , pp. 126–127 , accessed on September 12, 2014
- ^ Christian Kuhnke: Lippe Lexikon . Boken Verlag, Detmold 2000, ISBN 3-935454-00-7
- ↑ http://www.edlj.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=3
- ^ Project Hohenloh
Web links
- http://www.edlj.de/ (website of the operator, Luftsportverein Detmold)
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