St. Stephan airfield
| St. Stephan airfield | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | LSTS |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 1007 m (3304 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 10 km east of Gstaad |
| Start-and runway | |
| 14/32 | 2050 m × 40 m asphalt |
The airfield St. Stephan ( ICAO code LSTS ) is an airfield in St. Stephan in the Swiss canton of Bern .
The airfield in the Bernese Oberland was built as a Reduit airfield during World War II . The field base was initially planned as a turf runway with a small hangar and was expanded regularly as an important war base. The airfield was first operated by Fliegerkompanie 2 in August 1944 and used again in January and May 1945.
With the introduction of jet planes and after refresher courses resumed in 1947, St. Stephan became a much-used vampire and venom base. In the 1950s, the runway was extended to two kilometers and expanded with rock caverns and an underground command post. This enabled the Hawker Hunter to use the space as a base. The command post was moved into in 1964. The airfield was used as a repeat course location in spring and autumn.
Until 2000 St. Stephan was used regularly as a military airfield . The last combat aircraft unit was Fliegerstaffel 15 with Hunter at the airfield, after which the field was home to the LT 7 with PC-6 aircraft .
Since then, a civil association has been offering passenger flights with the Hawker Hunter HB-RVV at the airfield, which is still owned by the Air Force.
In 2011 the airfield was temporarily reopened as a helicopter base by the military for a full-force exercise.
On September 11, 2019, 25 years since the end of Hunter operations, active fighter jets of the Swiss Air Force landed again on the St. Stephan military airfield. A total of six F / A-18 Hornets (five single-seaters and one double-seated) from the Meiringen airfield command landed on the inactive military airfield as part of a decentralization exercise. They started again in the early afternoon without any problems.
Bücker Bü 131 at the St. Stephan airfield
Papyrus-Hunter HB-RVS
Czech grip
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literature
- Hans Rudolf Schneider: 70 years of the Reduit Airfield St. Stephan . Frutigen 2013.
Web links
- Official website of the Hunter Association
- Decommissioned airfields: St. Stephan
- Fortress Oberland: Video St. Stephan airfield
Individual evidence
- ↑ History of Air Transport Season 7 ( Memento of the original from February 14, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Chronicle on Luftwaffe.ch
- ^ Hans Rudolf Schneider: 70 years of the Reduit airfield St. Stephan . Frutigen 2013
- ↑ Major exercise by the Swiss Air Force
- ^ HS publications: publishing house for publications on Swiss fortifications, bunkers and fortresses, Frutigen
