Vechtel airfield
The Vechtel airfield was a German mock and later field airfield used during the Second World War . It was located in the Bippen district of Vechtel . He was also named airfield Fuerstenau , airfield Lonner fir or airfield Handrup referred.
history
Initially, the Vechtel airfield only served as a dummy airfield with dummy aircraft placed on it to deceive allied bomber groups. The nearby airfields in Hopsten , Quakenbrück , Achmer and Hesepe were to be additionally protected from attacks. It was created after the beginning of the Second World War by French prisoners of war with the help of carts of oxen north of the Fensterberge between Fürstenau and Handrup near the village of Vechtel. The prisoners of war were housed in a barrack camp at today's Bundesstraße 402 , Hartlager Straße junction. Before that, the area was expropriated from the local population.
When there was later demand for airfields in the German Reich , the dummy airfield was expanded into a field airfield in 1944. From November 24, 1944, the I. Group of Jagdgeschwader 26 "Schlageter" with Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A / D was stationed in Vechtel. On March 25, 1945, the group was transferred to the neighboring Drope airfield . The II. Group of the squadron was on the airfield Klausheide , the III. Group in Plantlünne-Wesel . From December 29, 1944 to January 5, 1945, the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 of the III. Group of Jagdgeschwader 54 "Grünherz". The airfield was bombed on March 24, 1945, which ended its military use the following day. After the end of the war, the area was used again for agriculture, so that there are no more relics of the airfield today.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jürgen Schwietert: When the war hit Bippen with all its might. In: noz.de. Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, February 23, 2015, accessed on March 22, 2020 .
Coordinates: 52 ° 33 ′ 14 " N , 7 ° 37 ′ 40" E