Course X

The course X (also: course 200 ) was the first course of kasernierte volkspolizei air - the forerunner of the NVA air force - for the training of pilots and staff officers for the construction of the later air forces of the National People's Army.

history

On November 15, 1951, the Council of Ministers of the USSR passed the resolution to train 220 East German pilots in the Soviet Union from 1952 to 1954 for the future air forces of the GDR.

After the opening of two People's Police Departments (VPD) in Pinnow (VPD 2107) and Sonnenstein (VPD 400) on February 15, 1952, from the beginning of March, under the strictest secrecy and isolation from the outside world, knowledge of the Russian language and, since in There were some deficits in these areas, mathematics, physics, chemistry and general education for future military pilots carried out by German and Soviet teachers. On July 15th, the Pinnower Group was also relocated to Pirna. The direction of this preparatory course was the responsibility of the VP inspector Paul Wilpert. Most of the participants came from the main training administration (HVA), which later became the CIP. For this group of people 255 future pilots and 15 men bar staff were selected and designated course X to the military airfield Syzran on the Volga in the USSR drafted.

The move to Sysran ( ⊙ ) began on September 22, 1952. The course itself lasted from October 1, 1952 to October 1, 1953 and was under the direction of People's Police Council (VP Council) Leander Ratz , who was one of the founding fathers in aviation circles the NVA air force applies. The flight training was initially carried out on the two-seat Jak-18 , later the flight students switched to the single-seat Jak-11 . It partly took place under extreme climatic conditions, whereby runners had to be attached to the landing gear of the Yak-18 aircraft due to the permanent snow in winter, which made it impossible to retract it during the flight and had a negative effect on flight performance. During course X , the instruction of the first GDR pilots on the MiG-15 jet fighter began , but this was canceled with the events of June 17 , just as MiG-15s that had already been delivered to the GDR were quickly returned to the Soviet Union. The training was therefore also ended with the achievement of the qualification for the piston engine fighter Jak-11. In October 1953, the participants in the course returned to the GDR.

Known course participants

• Klaus-Jürgen Baarß , Lieutenant General
• Klaus Henkes , Lieutenant General and later General Director of Interflug
• Walter Lobner , Major General

literature

• Klaus-Jürgen Baarß : Course X: On a secret mission on the Volga . Mönch, Essen 2004, ISBN 978-3-941149-14-4 .
• Torsten Diedrich , Rüdiger Wenzke : The camouflaged army: history of the barracked people's police of the GDR 1952 to 1956 . Ch.links, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-86153-242-5 , p. 139 .
• VP air. The myth about the predecessor of the NVA air force . In: Ulrich Unger, Detlev Billig (Ed.): Fliegerrevue Extra . No. 3 . Möller, 2003, ISSN  0941-889X , p. 4-27 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ VP air. The myth about the predecessor of the NVA air force . In: Ulrich Unger, Detlev Billig (Ed.): Fliegerrevue Extra . No. 3 . Möller, 2003, p. 6 .
2. ↑ Fliegerstammtisch Strausberg (Ed.): Fliegergeschichten. From takeoff to landing. Facts and experiences - written down by members of the NVA aviation forces. MediaScript, Strausberg, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-9814822-3-2 , p. 15.
3. ↑ Wilfried Copenhagen : The air forces of the NVA. Motorbuch, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-613-02235-4 , p. 9/10.