Legnica Airport
| Legnica Airport | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Characteristics | |||
| ICAO code | EPLE | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Height above MSL | 124 m (407 ft ) | ||
| Transport links | |||
| Distance from the city center | 3.5 km southeast of Legnica | ||
| Basic data | |||
| opening | 1935 | ||
| operator | SAG Legnica | ||
| Start-and runway | |||
| 08/26 (1945) | 1200 m × 30 m concrete | ||
The Legnica Airport is an airport in the now Polish city of Legnica (German: Liegnitz) in Lower Silesia . He was 1935-1945, when airbase Legnica, an air base of the Air Force of the Armed Forces .
history
After an airship port was built in this area as early as 1912 and an airship hangar the following year, the site served as a base for a Prussian aviation station during the First World War . Their buildings had to be largely dismantled after the end of the war and the area that was no longer used lay fallow for 15 years. It was not until 1933/1934 that the expansion to the Liegnitz air base began. The runway was grassy. In the north of the air base there were four large aircraft hangars and a medium repair hangar. In the northeast corner were two more large hangars. There were also other farm and accommodation buildings here. A siding to Liegnitz was also laid. On August 20, 1934, the Liegnitz Fliegergruppe with airfield command was formed, initially referred to as the "Depot of Silesian Air Transport AG" for reasons of disguise. The IV (supplementary) group of Kampfgeschwader 153 was the first airborne unit to be stationed here from April 1937 . From 1939 to 1944, various pilot schools were also housed here. In 1944 a concrete runway was laid. During the Second World War , Weser-Flugzeugbau GmbH set up a branch on the airfield, which produced, among other things, twin-engine Ju 388 bombers .
The following table shows a list of all active flying units (excluding school and supplementary units) of the Air Force that were stationed here between 1937 and 1945.
| From | To | unit | equipment |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 1937 | October 1938 | IV./KG 153 (IV. Group of Kampfgeschwader 153) | Junkers Ju 52 / 3m , Junkers Ju 86 |
| August 1938 | October 1938 | 2., 3./JG 131 (2nd and 3rd squadron of Jagdgeschwader 131) | Heinkel He 50 , Arado Ar 65 , Arado Ar 68 , Messerschmitt Bf 109B , Messerschmitt Bf 109D |
| May 1939 | October 1939 | Staff, I., II./KG 2 | Dornier Do 17M , Dornier Do 17Z |
| August 1939 | September 1939 | Staff, IV./KG z. b. V. 1 (IV. Group of the combat squadron e.g. V. 1 (transport aircraft)) | Junkers Ju 52 / 3m |
| August 1939 | September 1939 | Aufkl.St./Fliegerdivision 7 (reconnaissance squadron of the 7th Aviation Division) | |
| February 1941 | February 1941 | III./KG 53 | Heinkel He 111 |
On March 22nd (February 9th?) 1945 Soviet troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front occupied the area of the air base, which was used by the Soviet air force as a front airfield until the end of the war . The following units were in Liegnitz between 1945 and 1946:
| From | To | unit | equipment |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 1945 | 9th Gw SchaD (attack aircraft division) | ||
| March 1945 | 9th Gw IAD (Gardejagdfliegerdivision) 16th Gw IAP (Gardejagdfliegerregiment) 156th Gw IAP 728th IAP ( Fighter Regiment ) |
Bell P-39 , Jakowlew Jak-3 , Jakowlew Jak-9 | |
| Late 1945 | 4th SchaK (Attack Air Corps) | ||
| 1946 | 339th TAP (Transport Air Regiment) | Lissunov Li-2 | |
During the Cold War , Legnica was the main base of the Soviet Army in Poland and it was an important control center of the Warsaw Pact . This is where the headquarters of the Northern Group of the Soviet Army troops were located - until they were moved to Warsaw and Świdnica in 1984 - as well as the High Command for the West Direction of the Warsaw Pact, as well as the 4th Air Army of the Soviet Air Force . At the time, the airfield area covered an area of about 610 hectares with a runway extended to 1,600 m. From here, the Soviet troops left for Czechoslovakia in August 1968. "Little Moscow" extended over a third of the city area. The withdrawal of Russian troops was completed by September 15, 1993. It is now a purely civil airfield.
literature
- Stefan Büttner: Red places. Russian military airfields Germany 1945–1994. Fliegerhorste – Aerodorme – Military fallow areas. Ed .: Lutz Freundt. AeroLit, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-935525-11-4 , p. 20.
- Jürgen Zapf: Airfields of the Air Force 1934–1945 - and what was left of them. Lexicon of all airfields from A – Z. VDM, Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-054-2 , p. 272.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45 Germany (1937 Borders) , pp 394-396 , accessed on September 7, 2014.