Ulm-Dornstadt airfield
| Ulm-Dornstadt Airfield Ulm-Dornstadt Air Base |
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| Characteristics | |||
| Coordinates | |||
| Height above MSL | 595 m (1952 ft ) | ||
| Transport links | |||
| Distance from the city center | 1.5 km southeast of Dornstadt | ||
| Street |
 
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| train | Filstalbahn | ||
| Basic data | |||
| opening | 1936 | ||
| closure | 1945 | ||
| operator | air force | ||
The airfield Ulm-Dornstadt was a German military airfield at the time of the Third Reich . The airfield was about 8 km northwest of Ulm and one and a half km east-southeast of Dornstadt . The area was located between what was then Reichsstraße 10 and the railway line to Stuttgart north of the motorway. Some of the former accommodations on the northern edge are still preserved, while the former airfield was largely built over.
history
Air use until 1945
The origin of the later air base goes back to the First World War , when the War Ministry of the Kingdom of Württemberg decided to build an airfield near Dornstadt. Construction began in 1917. However, the airfield only existed for a short time and had to be closed again in 1919.
After the seizure of power by the Nazis, in the course of the German armament in the run-up to the Second World War , seven hectares of land were initially prepared as an emergency landing site from 1934. Only two years later, the area was expanded to the north to become an air base for the new air force . The airfield, which was equipped with an approximately 915 × 1000 m grass airfield and four hangars with paved aprons, had a rail connection at its southeast corner.
Shortly after its completion, the first student pilots and mechanics arrived; the main aviation use in the following years was the basic training of future pilots. Various non-flying units were also stationed here.
In the run-up to the Wehrmacht's western campaign, the training squadron of Kampfgeschwader 55 existed for almost six weeks , whose He 111P were then in Dornstadt. However, loading tests with the Messerschmitt "giants" Me 321 and Me 323 also took place here.
In October 1942, a location for high-frequency research was set up on the airfield in great secrecy and, as a result, its use for aviation was severely restricted.
The airfield was the target of an Allied fighter-bomber attack by P-51 of the VIII Fighter Command of the United States Army Air Forces on July 24, 1944 .
Re-use after 1945
After the end of the war, the area was used as a barracks for the US Army for a short time .
In 1946/47, by order of the US military administration, 503 mainly Jewish orphans were accommodated here. After these were otherwise supplied, the airfield remained unused.
The area was converted in 1950. The former barracks area in the northwest became a facility of the regional association of the Inner Mission and a new home for repatriates and ethnic repatriates from Eastern Europe.
Today 250 needy people live here. Four of the facility's buildings date from the war, including the former tower , now building 6.
The airfield itself was developed into an industrial area from the beginning of the 21st century.