Nordhorn-Lingen airfield

Nordhorn-Lingen airfield
Characteristics
ICAO code	EDWN
Coordinates	52 ° 27 '28 "  N , 7 ° 10' 33"  E Coordinates: 52 ° 27 '28 "  N , 7 ° 10' 33"  E
Height above MSL	26 m (85  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	9 km northeast of Nordhorn, 14 km southwest of Lingen (Ems)
Street	B 213 and A 31
train	IC 35, ( Lingen train station )
Local transport	Regional bus 165 (Nordhorn – Lingen)
Basic data
operator	Airfield Nordhorn-Lingen GmbH
Employees	10
Start-and runway
05/23	900 m × 20 m asphalt

The Nordhorn-Lingen airfield (until December 31, 1992 Nordhorn-Klausheide airfield ) is a commercial airfield in Klausheide (Grafschaft Bentheim) between the cities of Nordhorn and Lingen (Ems) in the immediate vicinity of the industrial area Klausheide-Ost and north of the Ems-Vechte- Canal .

Glider pilots, business travelers and private pilots land and take off at the airfield. Two flight schools for powered flight, two glider clubs, a parachutist group, three companies and the largest airworthy vintage aircraft group in Europe, as well as around 100 aircraft (gliders, powered aircraft, helicopters) are located here (as of 2018).

Nordhorn-Lingen airfield in the overview of the airports and landing fields in Lower Saxony

history

Between 1910 and 1914 the industrial family Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach bought the area around today's airfield in order to build an estate. Even in its original state, the site offered itself as an airfield and so Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach often came by plane to visit his estate. Gliding fans from Nordhorn, Lingen and Meppen became aware of the place and negotiated with Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach about shared use; so the gliding activities soon began in Klausheide.

In 1927 Lufthansa added the site to its route network as an emergency landing site.

At the beginning of the Second World War , the square was expanded and used for military purposes; officially, the airfield served as a makeshift airfield from 1941. The air force gave the place the code name " Nogat ". No permanent occupancies were documented until the summer of 1944, when this changed because at that time, due to the advance of the Allies in the west, many of the airfields used by the German Air Force were canceled. Klausheide got the status of a deployment port (E21). The necessary infrastructure was made of wood. To the south of the airfield, aisles were cut in the adjacent forest in order to create camouflaged parking spaces for the emergency machines. To the north of the airfield, workplaces for the technicians were set up on today's B 213. In September 1944, the Air Base Command E (v) 223 / XVII moved into the airfield. It remained the ground-based part of the Air Force in Klausheide until the end of the war. Only the 2nd group of Jagdgeschwader 26 " Schlageter " is documented as a flying unit. The troops equipped with the Jäger Focke-Wulf Fw 190 were stationed in Klausheide from November 22, 1944 to March 25, 1945; then it was relocated to Celle-Wietzenbruch because the Klausheide port of operations was bombed by the US Air Force on that day , making it unusable. At the beginning of April 1945 British troops occupied Klausheide. The British referred to the airfield as Airfield B.107 .

After the war the place should be reforested, but the air sportsmen of the region tried hard to resume flight operations. In 1952 the square was opened again, and in 1957 the airport operating company Klausheide mbH was founded.

On the Klausheider Flugtag on September 15, 1963, the "bird man" Gérard Masselin had a fatal accident while jumping from a height of 3,000 meters with a forerunner of the wingsuits . His older brother Guy also had a fatal accident in 1961 in Nancy during one of these experimental jumps, formerly known as "swing flight".

The airport hit the headlines again in April 1964 when the former SS-Obersturmführer Hans-Walter Zech-Nenntwich , who escaped from the Braunschweig remand prison on April 23 after being convicted of aiding and abetting two murders , crossed into the Klausheide airfield Switzerland deposed. At the airport, he and a companion were properly cleared by a customs officer and flown to Basel by an unsuspecting Wietmarscher pilot. This was possible because his escape was only discovered when he was already in Switzerland.

In 1987 the runway was paved, so that since then motor aircraft up to a maximum of 10.0 t have been allowed to take off and land. According to the relevant European directives, the airfield has not been usable for commercial flights since 2004 due to obstacles in the west. The airport operator has been trying unsuccessfully since 1996 to obtain a permit to extend the runway.

operator

In 1957 Flughafenbetriebsgesellschaft Klausheide mbH with the cities of Nordhorn (60%) and Lingen (10%), the counties of Grafschaft Bentheim (15%) and Lingen (10%) as well as some industrial companies in the region (4%) and the gliding clubs ( 1%) founded as a partner. The cities of Nordhorn and Lingen, the counties of Grafschaft Bentheim and Emsland (as legal successors of the county of Lingen), the two glider clubs and private individuals are still involved as shareholders in today's Flugplatz Nordhorn-Lingen GmbH .

Restricted flight area

The airfield is located in the restricted flight area ED-R 37A because of its proximity to the Nordhorn air / ground shooting range. The restricted flight area is always deactivated on Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and during the summer holidays in Lower Saxony.

Infrastructure

The airfield also has two grass runways for gliders. The grass runways are also approved for motor gliders and tail-wheel planes.

Animal Disease Logistics Center

On September 16, 2014, the animal disease logistics center for the Grafschaft Bentheim district and the southern Emsland district went into operation directly at the airfield. It consists of a material warehouse, offices and a sanitary wing. In the event of an epidemic, the operations are coordinated from here, the emergency services supplied and material and vehicles decontaminated and cleaned. The hangar is primarily used to store aircraft and is cleared if necessary for disease control. The property is owned by Flugplatz Nordhorn-Lingen GmbH.

societies

The airfield is home to six clubs:

• Luftsportring Grenzland e. V. (Nordhorn)
• Luftsportverein Lingen e. V.
• Association for Motorflug Klausheide e. V.
• Association of Active Pilots e. V.
• Parachuting group Nordhorn
• Association of historic aircraft at Klausheide airfield

Establishments

Airfield restaurant Wolkenlos

Web links

• Operator's homepage

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Klausheide on relict.com; accessed on July 23, 2018
2. ↑ 125 years of current affairs . Grafschafter Nachrichten, 11/1999, pp. 175/76
3. ↑ 125 years of current affairs . Grafschafter Nachrichten, 11/1999, p. 177
4. ↑ Blitz from Braunschweig . In: Der Spiegel . No. 21 , 1964 ( online ).
5. ↑ Grafschafter Nachrichten of September 17, 2014, accessed on September 17, 2014