History of aviation in the Ruhr area

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The history of aviation in the Ruhr area begins with the establishment of the first aviation associations in the Ruhr area at the beginning of the 20th century.

Courageous "aviators", as the pilots were called back then, demonstrated their flying machines to an enthusiastic public. Zeppelin and Parseval airships appeared in the sky over the Ruhr and awakened in the minds of dignitaries , industrialists and wealthy merchants the desire for what is now a matter of course: the air journey from one place to another.

Beginnings of aviation

The striving of the individual cities in the Ruhr area for air validity and the realization that the new technology can be used for civil and military purposes led to the creation of airfields such as Wanne-Herten, Oberhausen-Holten, Duisburg-Neuenkamp, ​​Dortmund-Fredenbaum and Gelsenkirchen- Essen-Rotthausen, although the place in Holten had existed since 1909, Fredenbaum since 1911. All other places mentioned were only created in 1912.

In the years between 1911 and 1914, those early airfields were the sites of high-profile flying events. During those years, a focus of aviation developed in the Rheinisch-Westfälische industrial area in the west of what was then the German Empire. The early flying machines were not only flown to the front, but also partly designed and built on site. A small aviation industry emerged. The best-known company was the Kondor Flugzeugwerke , based at the Essen-Gelsenkirchen-Rotthausen airfield , where the so-called Condor pigeons were initially produced. There was also an in-house flight school. During the First World War , training and reconnaissance aircraft were primarily produced under license for the German air forces on behalf of Albatros Flugzeugwerke . Our own, in some cases pioneering, constructions did not get beyond the test sample stage. In 1920 the Kondor aircraft factory was dissolved.

After the end of the First World War in 1918, these airfields largely lost their importance. Only from the Rotthausen airfield was an airmail connection established via Hanover to Berlin in 1919, which existed until 1920. The flight ban that existed under the Versailles Treaty initially nullified all further plans.

In the course of the 1920s, more airports were built in the Ruhr area: Essen / Mülheim Airport (with a previous location in Dorsten, Westphalia ) and Dortmund-Brackel , and in the 1930s the predominantly military airfield in Gelsenkirchen-Buer was added. The Buer airfield was located on the Berger Feld near Gelsenkirchen's Buer district. This airfield was primarily used by an aviation training center of the German Air Force . During the Second World War , various task forces of the Luftwaffe were stationed there for a short time. The former airfield terrain has been largely used by the soccer club FC Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 since the 1970s. In addition to the club's office, the park stadium and the modern football arena were built here. There was also an extensive training area. From then on, the focus was on Essen / Mülheim and Dortmund airports .

Ruhr area airline

In 1925 the Luftverkehrsgesellschaft Ruhrgebiet (LURAG) was founded. All major cities and districts in the Ruhr area were involved in this company. Because of the French occupation of the Ruhr area in the years 1923–1925, the first flight (May to August 1925) was from a provisional airfield north of the city of Dorsten. Essen / Mülheim Airport, which was founded in 1925, was later named "Ruhr Area Airport", from which flights began in late summer 1925. The right to participate in the emerging world air traffic was thus established. Other LURAG airfields were Düsseldorf-Lohausen , Krefeld and the short-lived (summer 1927) Duisburg water airport on the banks of the Rhine near Wanheimerort.

LURAG became part of Deutsche Luft Hansa, which was founded in 1926, and was deleted as a company in the 1930s. The last LURAG annual report dates from 1935.

Holten airfield

The first and thus oldest airfield in the Ruhr area - after Griesheim Airport and the airfield Johannisthal the third oldest airfield in Germany - was in Holtener break in which today Oberhausen belonging district Holten (district Holten, hall 6, Bruchstraße). The agriculturally only extensively usable area in the area of ​​today's Emscherkanal had been a common land of the municipality Holten since ancient times . On October 27, 1909, the Holten local council granted the West German Association for Flying Sailors , based in (Alt-) Oberhausen, permission to set up a “take-off runway” and supported the project with a grant of 500 marks. In return, the association had to commit to an annual rent of 100 marks. In addition to the take-off runway, the club, which operated “gliding and motorized flight”, built three sheds as “flying hangars” and a “departure tower with a slide for flying machines” in the following months. The Holten architect Ewald Schnaare had designed the plans for these facilities, as well as a hall that the Niederrheinische Verein für Luftschiffahrt from Essen had approved and built there a little later . In 1911, a row of five sheds was added as a further “flying hall” on the edge of the airfield, which the Niederrheinische Flugzeug-Bauanstalt had built by the engineer Otto Hilsmann from Altenessen . Part of the shed was offered for rent. At the beginning of 1912, Otto Hilsmann's company was already in financial difficulties. Hilsmann, who had taken over the leasing and management of the airfield in 1911, handed it over to the municipality of Holten in 1912, which opened the airfield to “free competition”. In the years that followed, there were workshops for aircraft, a flight school and a smaller aircraft factory on the site, which was maintained by the brothers Karl and Peter Strack , who came from Duisburg and belonged to the Old Eagles .

Many flight pioneers from the region made their first flight attempts on the terrain at Holten airfield. The hallmark of the square was the 8.9 meter high "Holten departure tower" or the "Holten start ramp", which was financed by twenty-mark shares issued specifically for this purpose. The 20-meter-long ramp, inaugurated on May 23, 1910, could be turned into the wind on a ring-shaped cement track if necessary, in order to achieve optimal starting conditions. A well-known glider over the Holtener Bruch was the Sterkrader Bergmann conveyor machinist. On the first flight day in 1911, the aviator Bruno Werntgen set an altitude record of 80 meters on an hour flight over Holten.

During the First World War there were some military barracks on the airfield, but it was never used as a military airfield. With the establishment of the Association for Aviation Friends , the airfield once again experienced a brief boom after the First World War. This association mainly organized former pilots from the First World War, who had set up their workshops and training rooms in the fire station in Hamborn - Marxloh . On May 23rd, the Ascension Day in 1926, a spectacular large-scale flight day was held at Holten airfield, which attracted around 30,000 spectators, mostly via trains that stopped at Sterkrader station . At this event, the "world war heroes " Ernst Udet , Paul Bäumer and Richard Dietrich as well as the Flieger Auffahrt and Selbach performed aerobatics. A Junkers passenger plane brushed against a wire fence on approach and was canceled for further demonstration flights. In the following year - also on Ascension Day - the Rheinische Flugwoche was held, again with Ernst Udet, this time with Thea Rasche and a Hamborner parachutist jump from 500 meters. On this day, too, an accident occurred: The balloon of the Mongolian animal driver Baumgart went up in flames.

1926 placed the administration of the city Sterkrade when the provincial government Dusseldorf the request to expand the airfield Holten to an airfield. These efforts failed. In 1927 the Holten airfield was given up in order to convert the area into an industrial area ( Ruhrchemie plant ) in the following years .

Essen-Gelsenkirchen-Rotthausen Airport

"Miss Charlotte Möhring has acquired the pilot's certificate." - Gelsenkirchen-Essen-Rotthausen airfield, 1912

Opened on 25 May 1912 on leasehold land of the old Nienhausen estate with great public participation, this airfield developed into a focus of early aviation development in the Ruhr area. Numerous flight events, supported by industry and business, made this airfield famous at the time. There were three flight schools on the terrain. In addition, there was the Kondor aircraft factory, which was also founded in 1912 and, in addition to some in-house designs, also manufactured military aircraft under license during the First World War. In the 1913 yearbook of the German Aviation Association it says about the airfield: “Essen-Gelsenkirchen. Airfield in the size of 1100 × 600 m with S. [airplane shed] for about 20 airplanes, workshops, first aid room and covered auditorium. Solid boundaries all around. ”And to the airship landing area:“ Four walled-in concrete blocks in the middle of the airfield, each with 2400 kg drag resistance. ”In 1919, returning pilots organized an air day and in the same year the Deutsche Luft Reederei introduced air mail operations to Berlin . This airmail route was discontinued in December 1920. After 1929 this airfield became less and less important. The aviation associations migrated either to Essen / Mülheim airport or to Borkenberge airport near Dülmen. A last glider course for aspiring pilots is documented for 1940. The actual airfield area has now been taken over by nature. At first, the airfield became increasingly boggy due to the subsidence caused by coal mining. Then, bit by bit, debris from mining and later also from underground railway construction was piled up on the former airfield. This airfield was finally history. Adjacent is the trotting track , which was also opened in 1912 . Like the harness racing track, Gut Nienhausen still exists at the beginning of the 21st century.

Wanne-Herten airfield

Also inaugurated on May 25, 1912, this airfield was in the shadow of the Rotthausen airfield, despite the great public response. Intended as an airship port - even a hall for airships was built - the commercial success failed to materialize. In the 1913 yearbook of the German Aviation Association it says about the airfield: “Wanne-Herten. Airfield with fixed boundaries, size 1100 × 750 meters, cleared and leveled forest floor, accommodation space for at least 12 aircraft with workshops. "And" Halle der Rhein. Flight and Sportplatz-Ges .: L. 100, Br. 34. “In the airship hangar , the company Wilhelm Albers Flugzeugbau manufactured parts for airplanes (Rumpler Tauben). During the First World War, in 1916, the operator of the airfield, the Rheinisch-Westfälische Flug- und Sportplatzgesellschaft, filed for bankruptcy. The facilities were closed for flight operations and the area was used for agriculture. In the 1930s, the airfield was used by glider pilots from the then Flieger-HJ. After the war, around 1951, when gliding was again permitted in Germany, an area near the old airfield was used for aviation. The "Emscherbruch" airfield was created. In 1964, flight operations were finally stopped as tribute had to be paid to the industrial expansion. Due to the construction of a high-voltage transmission line, flight operations could no longer be carried out for safety reasons. Until 1994 the glider airfield, the former “Emscherbruch” airfield, was still used by model pilots. The old airfield was roughly where the “Im Emscherbruch” industrial park extends to the Herten area, north of the Herne-Wanne city limits. A detailed description of the history of the airfield can be found on the website of the Flugmodellsportvereinigung Vest eV

Buer Airfield

Around 1934/35 an airport was built south of the Reichsautobahn 2 at the exit of the Gelsenkirchen district of Buer , which was mainly used by the German air force . Initially, an air training squadron was stationed there, and later in the course of the Second World War also task forces. However, it was not primarily used. The airfield was also used for evasive or emergency landings by the Air Force. In the years 1944/45, interceptors of the "Reich Defense" were often stationed at the "Berger Feld" airfield, as it was also called, to fight Anglo-American bomber groups. After the war, a large part of the area was used for agriculture. A British army unit first moved into the barracks that still existed. In the mid-1950s, Buer airfield was under discussion as a NATO airport. However, these plans were not continued. The terrain was increasingly taken over by nature. From 1969 the Park Stadium was built on the old airfield area, which has been the venue for FC Schalke 04 since its completion in 1973 . In the years that followed, the Park Stadium was replaced by the Veltins Arena and other FC Schalke facilities followed, such as its office, training grounds, sports medicine facilities, a hotel and restaurants. Only a few preserved barracks buildings on Adenauerallee , which are used by the technical relief organization, are reminiscent of the flight operations at that time .

Duisburg-Neuenkamp airfield

Neuenkamp airfield was opened in 1912. In 1927 it was named "Paul-Bäumer-Flugplatz", named after the aviator Paul Bäumer , who came from Duisburg and who had a fatal accident in 1927 , who was also the bearer of the "Pour le Merite" order. Motor racing and gliding took place here. In the 1930s, the airfield was structurally expanded and later, during the Second World War, it was also used by the German Air Force, which ran some training facilities here. The training of dive fighter pilots (STUKA) on this place during the war is known. The field also played a small role during the western campaigns of the German Wehrmacht , when a dive fighter unit was stationed there, which flew from here on missions against Belgium and the Netherlands. The Neuenkamp airfield was also used as a base (emergency landing area, etc.) for fighter planes that fought the bombers in Anglo-American air raids against the cities in the Ruhr area. In the 1950s, the re-approved aviation sport was practiced there for a short time. From the mid-1950s onwards, various industrial companies were set up on the site and a tank farm was later built. After 1960 the Neuenkamp airfield practically no longer existed. The A40 motorway runs right past the former airfield.

Duisburg water airport

In May 1927, the Duisburg-Rotterdam flight connection was started with seaplanes, which only had to fly along the course of the Rhine. The clearance and landing stage were located near the “Rheinlust” restaurant in Duisburg-Wanheim. However, since there had also been a direct rail connection to Rotterdam for some time and this was also cheaper, the flight operation was not worthwhile and it was discontinued in the same year after about four to five months.

Essen / Mülheim airfield

The Essen / Mülheim airfield was officially opened on August 31, 1925. In the period that followed, various flight connections to larger cities within Germany and other European countries were established. In 1926, Deutsche Lufthansa set up its West Main Line at the airport. In 1931, the Zeppelin airship LZ 127 landed at the airport for the first time. Another sensational airship landing with the LZ 130 took place in the late summer of 1939, a few days before the outbreak of war. As early as 1932, extensive expansion and modernization measures took place, which continued into the 1940s. Up to the beginning of the war, the place was still served by eight foreign airlines. In addition, there were a few major events that attracted and enthused the audience in those years. In 1938, Essen / Mülheim Airport was named the Ruhr Area Central Airport. The war years from 1939 onwards ruined other major plans. All airports, as far as they still existed (the Holten, Wanne and Rotthausen squares were already given up at that time) were now used for military purposes. Deutsche Lufthansa only carried out special flights that included Essen / Mülheim Airport. At times, day and night hunting squadrons were stationed here (III. Group of Jagdgeschwader 26 "Schlageter" with Messerschmitt Bf 109 aircraft and later parts of Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 with Messerschmitt Bf 110 aircraft ). In the final phase of the Second World War, a combat squadron ( II. Group of Kampfgeschwader 51 "Edelweiss" ) with jet planes of the Messerschmitt Me-262 was stationed here. In the immediate post-war period, the airport was briefly used by the Allied military authorities. At times the square was used as a storage area for discarded army trucks. From 1950/51, pilots returning from the war and captivity prepared part of the airfield for gliding. The final re-admission of the field for general aviation took place in 1959.

Essen / Mülheim airfield has had a relatively quiet existence as a regional airport since its reconstruction in the 1950s. A test flight operation with jet airliners of the type Fokker F28 of the company LTU in 1969 was not pursued any further. Also a sea bath flight service in the 1960s and 1970s was discontinued. Concepts for an economically sensible regional flight operation have existed for years, but are hampered by politically motivated debates. Essen / Mülheim Airport is best known for the airships built and stationed at this location by the company WDL (Westdeutsche Luftwerbung GmbH), which can be seen in the sky with advertising from well-known large companies far beyond the country's borders. The airport is used by the Luftfahrtverein Essen and the Aero Club Mülheim / Ruhr. The Hanseatic Aviation Club Düsseldorf has had a new home here since spring 2007, as it has given up its original base at Düsseldorf Airport for various reasons. Business flights are also operated on a very limited basis. Until its insolvency in 2011, the airline VHM Schul- und Charterflug carried out this service with modern, comfortable aircraft in addition to a flight school. The company Air Albatros, which is also based at the Essen / Mülheim airfield, offers sightseeing flights over the Ruhr area and beyond with a historic Soviet aircraft ( Antonow An-2 ) from the former GDR . In addition, Air Albatros organizes trips with hot air balloons from a meadow on the city limits of Mülheim / Essen-Bedingrade (Hexbachtal) if the weather conditions allow.

Since 2005, the anniversary year of the 80th year of the existence of Essen / Mülheim Airport, efforts to consolidate a business airport have been intensified by the responsible Chamber of Commerce and Industry as well as parts of politics at the municipal and state level. Smaller touring aircraft with propeller or jet propulsion continue to be used. In the meantime, the airfield is no longer approved as an airport but as a commercial airfield .

An initiative under the name Arbeitsgemeinschaft Flughafen und Ökologie Essen / Mülheim eV (AGFÖ) has been committed to maintaining the airfield since the 1980s and it is developing economically and socially justifiable concepts to safeguard flight operations. Due to differing views in the political bodies at state and municipal level, a final decision on the continued existence of the airfield is still open as of 2012.

Fredenbaum Airfield

In 1911 an airfield was built on a meadow north of the Fredenbaumwald near Dortmund. The Dortmund gas station was in the immediate vicinity. The Dortmund Flight Days, which took place in July 1911, went down in history. Until the beginning of the First World War in 1914, smaller flight events took place on this site. Airmen from home and abroad took part. The airfield gave way in the following years to the expansion of industrial operations.

Dortmund Airport

The start of operations at Dortmund Airport at Brackel began on April 27, 1925, when it was integrated into the Copenhagen-Hamburg-Bremen-Dortmund-Frankfurt (M) -Stuttgart-Zurich airline. Further connections were added in the current flight plan period and the cities of Hanover, Berlin, Halle, Leipzig, Bremen, Hamburg, Frankfurt (M) and Amsterdam could ultimately be reached directly. In 1928, the airport recorded over 8,000 take-offs and landings, making it the most important airfield in western Germany alongside Cologne.

On August 10, 1930, the Graf Zeppelin airship landed at Brackel Airport , attended by 120,000 people.

In 1939, civil aviation ceased and the military ( Luftwaffe ) took over the facility. The last German airmen left the airfield on March 28, 1945. During the Second World War the airport is destroyed by bombing and taken over by the Royal Air Force (RAF) after the war. Between 1953 and 1959, the airfield in Brackel was used by the recreational aviation that was re-approved in the Federal Republic of Germany.

In 1950 the brothers Theo and Hans Hengsbach and other flight enthusiasts founded the Aero-Club eV . as the successor to the Dortmund Aviation Association. Three years later the first German glider took off again in Brackel, in 1955 the Hengsbach brothers made their first sightseeing flights.

On May 5, 1955, the Federal Republic of Germany regained air sovereignty . However, Dortmund Airport was no longer represented in the Lufthansa network because there was no space for the new and larger aircraft in Brackel. When missile units of the British Army of the Rhine were stationed in 1959 , flight operations at the Brackel site were finally ceased. Civil aviation was looking for a new location and found it in the Wickede district. The area of ​​the old Brackel airport became part of an industrial area and the Borussia Dortmund BVB 09 football club built a training area on part of the land, which has been in use since 2006. As early as 1960, the first sports machine landed on a grass runway in Dortmund - Wickede , which belongs to the new Dortmund Airport.

On February 24, 1969, the city council of Dortmund voted for the construction of a runway 850 meters long. He also decided to expand the airport with all the necessary ancillary facilities and to reinstate the old operator: On April 1, 1971, Flughafen Dortmund GmbH became active again as a municipal company owned by the city.

In 1973 that came to an end for the glider pilots who had set up the Wickede site. This was followed by the settlement of small, regionally operating airlines, including Aerowest , the largest Cessna dealer in Europe at the time and provider of charter, photo and sightseeing flights.

In April 1974, the 650 meter long and 20 meter wide grass runway was paved with asphalt and put into operation. In 1975 the first 850-meter track was built.

The first scheduled flights were set up in 1979 by RFG - Reise- und Industrieflug GmbH , later Eurowings AG , with the opening of the Dortmund-Munich route. A newly built 850 m long runway (plus 100 m paved stopping areas each) with a width of 30 m is now called the Startbahn Ruhrgebiet and is opened in 1983 by Prime Minister Johannes Rau .

By the end of 1987, the terminal building was generously expanded and the runway extended to 1,050 meters (plus 200 m of concrete stopping areas each).

In 1997, the runway was expanded to 1450 m, including the stop areas, in order to enable the use of larger aircraft (BAe 146 / Avro) and thus to cope with the increasing number of passengers. As a positive side effect, the payload restrictions of the primarily used ATR turboprops are significantly reduced.

In 2000, the runway was expanded to 2000 meters and 45 meters wide, as well as the opening of the new terminal for up to 2.5 million passengers annually after around 2.5 years of construction. In 2001 the number of passengers exceeded the million mark for the first time.

In the summer of 2004, the segment of low-cost airlines also found its way into Dortmund : the airline EasyJet connects the airport with many new European destinations. The airline WizzAir opens new scheduled flights to Poland.

In 2005, more than 30,000 take-offs and landings annually carried over 1.7 million passengers. This makes Dortmund the third largest commercial airport in North Rhine-Westphalia for the first time. The airport is also important as an employer: over 1,500 people work at Dortmund Airport. As early as 2007, 2,155,064 passengers were carried.

Heliport Duisburg

The Belgian airline SABENA set up a helicopter route from Duisburg to Brussels in 1955. A connection to Rotterdam was later set up. The heliport was located in Duisburg-Duissern on the Ruhrdeich in the immediate vicinity of the Aaker ferry bridge. Because helicopter operation had proven to be very cost-intensive and therefore uneconomical, flight operations were finally stopped in 1966. The airline SABENA used the US-built Sikorsky S-55 and S-58 helicopter models in those years .

literature

  • City of Mülheim / Ruhr-Der Oberstadtdirektor (Ed.): Documentation Airport Essen / Mülheim. Mülheim 1970.
  • Rolf Schneider: Essen airmail. Essen 1980 (own print, 2nd expanded edition 1990).
  • Hans Vogt: silk ball and flying box. Krefeld 1993, ISBN 3-9801610-8-0 .
  • Historical association for Dortmund and the Grafschaft Mark eV (Hrsg.): Dortmund in flight - early aviation history in Dortmund. Issue series Heimat Dortmund No. 3/2001, Dortmund 2001, ISSN  0932-9757 .
  • Karl-Peter Ellerbrock / Günther Högl: Horizons - On the economic and cultural history of Westphalian air traffic, Essen 2001, ISBN 3-89861-030-6 .
  • Guido Rißmann-Ottow: Good luck! - Early aviation in the Revier, Essen 2002, ISBN 3-89861-025-X .
  • Hartmut Buch: Aviation Guide North Rhine-Westphalia. Berlin 2005 ', ISBN 3-9804337-7-3 .
  • Frank Radzicki: 80 years of Essen-Mülheim Airport. Erfurt 2005, ISBN 3-89702-809-3 .
  • Frank Radzicki: The dream of flying in the Ruhr area. Erfurt 2006, ISBN 3-89702-995-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For more information on the organization of the association and the club members, see Flugsport , year 1911, No. 2, p. 68 ( digital copy )
  2. ↑ Construction file of the city of Oberhausen / Rhld. Subject: Niederrheinischer Verein für Luftschiffahrt, Essen, Corridor VI, No. 47/5, Bruchstrasse
  3. ↑ Aviation , year 1912, No. 1, p. 35 ( digitized version )
  4. ↑ Aviation , year 1911, No. 4, p. 138.
  5. ↑ Aviation , born 1912, No. 13.
  6. ↑ Share certificate of the West German Association for Flugsegler e. V. Gliding and powered flight , website in the portal hwph.de , accessed on November 22, 2015.
  7. ↑ Airplanes over the Holtener Bruch . Article compiled from newspaper reports from the time, PDF in the portal alfred-ulrich-lindemann , May 1993.
  8. ↑ F. Rasch (Ed.): Yearbook of the German Aviation Association 1913 . Berlin 1913, DNB  012953865 , 12.Airfields , airfields and airfields., P. 145 .
  9. ↑ F. Rasch (Ed.): Yearbook of the German Aviation Association 1913 . Berlin 1913, DNB  012953865 , 11. Open airship landing areas with anchoring device., P. 143 .
  10. ↑ F. Rasch (Ed.): Yearbook of the German Aviation Association 1913 . Berlin 1913, DNB  012953865 , 12.Airfields , airfields and airfields., P. 147 .
  11. ↑ F. Rasch (Ed.): Yearbook of the German Aviation Association 1913 . Berlin 1913, DNB  012953865 , 10. Luftschiffhallen., P. 142 .
  12. ^ Flugmodellsportvereinigung Vest eV Archived from the original on July 1, 2007 ; accessed on May 9, 2009 (date of last access reconstructed from first entry link in article).