Müritz Airpark
| Müritz Airpark | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | EDAX |
| IATA code | REB |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 67 m (220 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 4 km southeast of Rechlin |
| Basic data | |
| operator | Development and operating company Müritzflugplatz Rechlin-Lärz mbH |
| Terminals | 1 |
| Start-and runway | |
| 07/25 | 2380 m × 50 m concrete |
The Müritz Airpark - formerly Rechlin-Lärz - is a commercial airfield in the municipal areas of Lärz and Rechlin in Mecklenburg .
history
First and Second World War
The history of the Müritz Airpark airfield began in 1916, when the first plans for the air force were made within the framework of the aviation research and training institute on the Müritz. These were implemented in 1917 and 1918. There are contradicting data for the period from 1920 to 1933. According to the information provided by the airfield itself, the airfield was used for recreational aviation during this period. According to careful research by well-known aviation historians, the expropriations of 1918 were partially reversed after the end of the First World War, as purchase negotiations for the site were necessary before construction began in the mid-1930s due to the rearmament . By mid-1935, the earthworks on the runway and the buildings required for flight operations were well advanced. From 1939 the West-East Concrete Railway was built, the Northwest-Southeast Concrete Railway followed later. The Luftwaffe's "Verprobungskommando Lärz" was later set up in Lärz , which was normally assigned the so-called preliminary or pilot series samples for operational testing. From mid-1944, the testing of the new jet aircraft Me 262 , Ar 234 and He 162 received priority. At the end of the war , women from the Ravensbrück concentration camp in the Retzow camp , which was partially converted into a concentration camp , came to be used for construction work at the Lärz airfield , as the runways had to be constantly expanded.
Operations against bomber formations with the Messerschmitt Me 262 and low-level aircraft attacks with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 against the Red Army were flown from the Lärz airfield . On May 2, 1945 the Rechlin test site and the Lärz airfield were handed over to the Red Army. The 196th Attack Aircraft Division, equipped with Il-2 , used the site until June .
Post war history
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After the war, Rechlin became a garrison of the Soviet armed forces . In 1949 the 165th Fighter Regiment, equipped with Lavochkin La-9 , took over the site, and later the first MiG-15 jet fighters were added because the Lärz airfield had concrete runways (see GRU ). From 1956 the 165th IAP was replaced by the 33rd fighter regiment. This was stationed in Lärz until 1961 and equipped with MiG-15, MiG-17 and MiG-19 . In addition, from 1956, the staff command chain of the 125th fighter / fighter-bomber division equipped with An-2 was added . In 1961 the 19th Guards fighter-bomber regiment with MiG-17 and Su-7 , later with MiG-27 , and from 1969 to 1987 the independent 344th helicopter squadron was stationed. This formed in 1987 into the third squadron of the 439th independent helicopter regiment from Parchim. For a short time, other units of the 16th Air Army were stationed in Lärz. The officers and their families were housed in the Vietzen settlement (today's Rechlin), the soldiers barracked in the former barracks of the West Group test site. In 1948 the Soviet Army released 75 apartments for use by the German population.
After flight operations ceased on March 23, 1993, the 19th fighter-bomber regiment of the now Russian WGT, after 48 years of use by the GSSD / WGT, finally left the Lärz airfield and, in autumn, also the previously excluded living area and the barracks in Rechlin. In July the last material shipment flights took place through An-22 and Il-76 to Russia.
In 1994 the Lärz airfield was reopened for civil use. The airfield is operated by the development and operating company Müritzflugplatz Rechlin-Lärz mbH. In the meantime, large parts of the former military infrastructure have been demolished. The runways have been shortened by 300 meters to 2080 meters. The runway was completely renovated in 2011. Then the taxiways were paved.
The northern part of the site was bought on April 30, 2003 by the Kulturkosmos Müritzsee eV association, which has organized the Fusion Festival there every year since 1997 . The twelve Hardened Aircraft Shelters located on the site are used as event locations.
The much larger remaining part of the airfield was acquired by the “Müritz Airpark” consortium. The company MAP Müritz Airpark GmbH is concerned with setting up a so-called fly-in community there, i.e. an area with private residential buildings and their own airport hangars. There is also a prospectus plan to integrate a marina and an 18-hole golf course in the area.
literature
- Theodor Benecke (ed.) German aviation. Volume 27: Heinrich Beauvais, Karl Kössler, Max Mayer, Christoph Regel: Flight test sites until 1945. Johannisthal, Lipezk, Rechlin, Travemünde, Tarnewitz, Peenemünde-West. Bernard & Graefe, Munich et al. 1998, ISBN 3-7637-6117-9 .
- Hans-Werner Lerche: test pilot on captured aircraft. 2nd Edition. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-879434-95-6 .
- Hans-Werner Lerche: test pilot on captured aircraft. 7th revised and expanded edition. Aviatic Verlag, Oberhaching 1999, ISBN 3-925505-41-5 .
- Förderverein Luftfahrttechnisches Museum Rechlin e. V .: History and technology in and around Rechlin. From the propeller to the jet aircraft to the lifeboat. Self-published, Rechlin 2003.
- Stefan Büttner: Red places - Russian military airfields Germany 1945–1994 , 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 5: Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. , VDM, Zweibrücken 2006, ISBN 978-3-86619-011-5
Web links
- Airport data on World Aero Data ( 2006 )
- Müritz Airpark
- Aeronautical Museum Rechlin
Individual evidence
- ^ Beauvais, Kössler, Mayer, rule: Deutsche Luftfahrt - Flugerprobungsstellen bis 1945, Bernard & Graefe, 1998, ISBN 3-7637-6117-9
