Koethen Airport

Koethen Airport
Characteristics
ICAO code	EDCK
IATA code	KOQ
Coordinates	51 ° 43 '16 "  N , 11 ° 57' 42"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 43 '16 "  N , 11 ° 57' 42"  E
Height above MSL	93 m (305  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	2 km south of Koethen
Basic data
opening	1928
operator	Flugsportverein Köthen eV
Start-and runway
07/25	800 m × 15 m concrete

The airfield Köthen is a special airfield in Köthen (Saxony-Anhalt).

Airlines and Destinations

There are no commercial scheduled or charter flights, only in the summer months there are irregular sports flights. The desolate makeshift runway is too short for today's jets. A modernization or recommissioning of the actual runway is not planned.

history

As early as 1923, the foundation stone of Köthen's flight history was laid with the formation of the Cöthen FLUWIAC research group . In 1928 the city council decided to build an airfield south of the city. In preparation for the Second World War, the "Luftnachrichten Lehr- und Versuchsregiment" moved onto the site in 1937, and the airfield was now used exclusively for military purposes. With the construction of the air force barracks, Köthen became a garrison town.

Actual acts of war, some Messerschmitt occasional inserts Bf 109 except for air defense, should the Köthener airbase not have gone out during World War II. In the summer of 1944, a few kilometers south-east of the airfield, near the village of Gnetsch , an American B-17 Flying Fortress crashed into a field. On April 14, 1945, the military airfield was attacked by American fighter-bombers and taken by advancing units of the 3rd Armored Division .

After the Americans had withdrawn, troops of the Soviet Army occupied the airfield from July 1945 . Since 1951 the 73rd Soviet Guard Fighter Regiment (73 Gw.IAP) with MiG fighter squadrons has been stationed here. First the MiG-15 and MiG-17 , later the MiG-21 , and from the 1980s the MiG-23 and finally the MiG-29 . From 1983 onwards, Mil Mi-8 transport helicopters and Mil Mi-24 combat helicopter squadrons were also stationed at Köthen airfield . However, these were relocated in 1988. During this time, parachutists were regularly observed. Short-term stationing of other units, for example Jak-28 bombers of the 668th BAP during the “Oktobersturm” maneuver in October 1965, took place until 1975. Between 1961 and 1965, parts of helicopter and fighter squadrons of the NVA were also located in Köthen .

The tower

On April 29, 1952, a DC-4 is said to have left the official flight corridor en route from Frankfurt to Berlin-Tempelhof . Two Soviet MiG-15s opened fire near the town of Könnern near Köthen. The DC-4 is said to have had 89 bullets, two passengers were slightly injured, the machine was able to make an emergency landing in Berlin-Tempelhof. Civil air traffic to and from Berlin was suspended for a short time. The shelling is said to have been carried out by MiGs of the 73rd Guards Fighter Regiment (73 Gw.IAP see also 16th Air Army ), which was stationed in Koethen. This information has never been officially confirmed for political reasons.

During the Cold War, the western outer border of the Warsaw Pact countries was monitored from Köthen and there were regular flights between the Baltic Sea and Hungary. Flight days were Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. MiG-29 and Mi-24 were last stationed here, flight operations ended in May 1991.

The withdrawal of the Soviet armed forces in 1991 was supported by the use of the Antonov An-124 wide-body transport aircraft and was completed in August. Since then, part of the airfield has been used by an aviation club. The former main runway was also torn down due to its poor state of preservation. Former barracks buildings are still empty or have been converted into administrative buildings for the Anhalt-Bitterfeld district administration , Köthen tax office and private houses.

In memory of the Köthen aviation history, a Boeing 737-300 of Lufthansa , with the aircraft registration D-ABES, has been bearing the name "Köthen / Anhalt" since March 1992 .

Solar energy power plant

One of the largest photovoltaic power plants in Germany was built by the Rhineland-Palatinate company juwi on 55 hectares of land and the airport runway . With an installed nominal output of 15 megawatts and a module area of ​​around 145,000 m², over 13 million kilowatt hours of electricity will be generated per year, which corresponds to the annual requirements of over 4,000 households.

Solar power plant at Koethen airfield

literature

• Stefan Büttner: Red places . Russian military airfields Germany 1945–1994. Air bases – aerodromes – military fallow areas. AeroLit, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-935525-11-4 .

Web links

Commons : Flugplatz Köthen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• official page
• Provider for sightseeing flights from Koethen Airport
• The Lufthansa Boeing "Koethen / Anhalt" at Flugzeugbilder.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ Regina Michel: Stories about time and people: Life in the region between Köthen and Bitterfeld 1900 to 1945. Weißandt-Gölzau: Self-published culture and local history association Weißandt-Gölzau 1990 eV 2006, ISBN 3-00-019476-2 .
2. ↑ Koethen Airport | Military Airfield Directory. Retrieved December 1, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Company details ( Memento from September 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive )