Air Transport Squadron 61

Lufttransportgeschwader 61 - LTG 61 - III
Internal association badge (coat of arms)
active	August 24, 1957 to December 31, 2017
Country	Germany
Armed forces	armed forces
Armed forces	air force
Strength	approx. 200 soldiers (after-command until III / 2018)
Insinuation	LwTrKdo
Former location	Airbase Landsberg / Lech
Awards	Flag ribbon Germany (1997)
guide
Last commodore	Colonel Daniel Draken
Aircraft
Transport aircraft / helicopter	Transall C-160 , Bell UH-1D

The Lufttransportgeschwader 61 (LTG 61) was a squadron of the German Air Force , based on the Penzing Air Base . The LTG 61 was most recently subordinate to the Luftwaffe Troop Command (LwTrKdo) in Cologne-Wahn, with the European Air Transport Command (EATC) having been in charge of the operations management of aircraft that are not deployed abroad since 2010 . The squadron was officially disbanded on December 31, 2017, and the roll call took place on December 14. A detachment was responsible for the location until the end of 2018.

history

Lineup and first years

On August 24, 1957, the then Federal Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss put LTG 61 into service as the first operational squadron of the new air force on the US airbase in Erding . The 1st Squadron consisted of C-47 Dakota , whose personnel were initially trained by the United States Air Force . The 2nd squadron was set up on December 14, 1957. It received Noratlas N 2501 , with which the 1st squadron was equipped shortly afterwards. In 1958 the squadron moved from Erding to Neubiberg Air Base . As early as 1960, the LTG 61, together with the Lufttransportgeschwader 62, which was then stationed in Ahlhorn, took part in a foreign mission as part of the earthquake relief in Agadir in Morocco and transported a total of 1494 passengers and around 180 tons with 36 aircraft.

Conversion to Transall and relocation to Penzing

1970 to 1971 the squadron converted from the Noratlas to the Transall C-160 D, which is still in use today, and moved from Neubiberg to the Penzing site. The helicopter transport squadron 64 , which was previously stationed in Penzing, relocated to the Ahlhorn air base . In 1978 the 2nd squadron was disbanded and the transport operations were bundled in a Transall squadron, in 1979 the previous 1st squadron of the helicopter transport squadron 64 was incorporated as the 2nd and 3rd squadron with the Bell UH-1 D helicopters . The 3rd squadron later moved to Nörvenich Air Base to perform SAR duties there, and was disbanded in autumn 2006.

Since 1971 the SAR (Search and Rescue) rescue helicopter of the HTG 64, later 1st reinforced squadron HTG 64 with location Penzing (from 1979 2nd flying squadron LTG 61) with the nickname "SAR 75" was stationed at the Bundeswehr Hospital Ulm . Manned by the hospital's medical personnel, the helicopter was the second aircraft manned by an ambulance after the ADAC's “ Christoph 1 ” from Munich that was also used in civilian air rescue in Germany. He was replaced in 2003 by Christoph 22 from ADAC Air Rescue. In 1984 the LTG 61 was used for relief flights during the famine in Ethiopia and from 1992 to 1996 it was an important part of the airlift to the besieged Sarajevo .

From the 50th to the 60th anniversary of the squadron

A Transall of the LTG 61 at the "Air Mobility Rodeo '07" in the USA

The squadron celebrated its 50th anniversary on September 29, 2007 at Penzing Air Base ; however, a large part of the event had to be canceled due to the weather. On the anniversary of the 50th anniversary of two machines of the LTG 61 were coated with a special finish of the paint Designer (Bell UH-1D and Transall C-160), also as for the 10 years before, held 40 years squadron anniversary Walter Maurer provided that since under fly under the motto “For Peace.” and represent the Bundeswehr as messengers of peace on its missions around the world. The LTG 61 at Penzing Air Base last consisted of just one flying squadron, the 1./LTG 61 with Transall C-160D transport aircraft. The 2./LTG 61 with helicopters of the type Bell UH-1D was disbanded on December 31, 2012 and reorganized into the newly created Einsatzgruppe SAR UH-1D (EinsGrpSAR) under the command of the Army Aviation. The helicopters that continue to be deployed from Penzing and are now officially subordinate to the 30th Transport Helicopter Regiment in Niederstetten serve the Land Search and Rescue Service with the Niederstetten, Holzdorf and Nörvenich commands. The EinsGrpSAR helicopters have meanwhile been relocated to Niederstetten.

With the introduction of the NH-90 , the helicopters of LTG 61 and those of the other two LTG were to be combined to form the newly established helicopter squadron 64 (HSG 64) at Holzdorf Air Base . Ultimately, however, they were handed over to the Army's 30th Transport Helicopter Regiment in December 2012 and the 2nd Squadron disbanded. In the spring of 2013, Transall's squadron relocated to West Africa to support the French Opération Serval , the combat mission against Islamists in northern Mali . and as a thank you, a Transall took part in the military parade on the occasion of the French national holiday on July 14th of the same year .

Transall with the anniversary logo of LTG 61, 2017

In autumn 2015, the squadron took part with two aircraft in the NATO exercise Trident Juncture , one of the largest exercises by the NATO armed forces since the end of the Cold War under the leadership of JFC Brunssum . The planes were stationed for tactical air transport at the Portuguese airport Beja , where the first Landsberg crews had already been retrained on the Transall in the early 1970s.

On June 10, 2017, LTG 61 was one of the organizers of the Bundeswehr Day , which also celebrated the 60th anniversary of the association. Around 51,000 visitors came to this event.

Dissolution of the squadron

Farewell coat of arms of LTG 61

The Air Force is currently replacing the C-160 Transall with 40 Airbus A400Ms . After the decommissioning, the Wunstorf Air Base will be used exclusively as the location for the air transport aircraft. Since the air base cannot be expanded further through the Lech in the west and the town of Penzing in the east, Penzing was not a viable alternative for the operation of the - significantly larger - A400M. The official "fly-out" took place at the end of September 2017. The squadron was disbanded on December 31, 2017, the appeal was held on December 14, 2017 under the leadership of Major General Günter Katz . By the end of 2018, the shipyard (not belonging to the squadron) should still carry out the high-quality parts extraction; All operational aircraft were handed over to Lufttransportgeschwader 63 in Hohn on December 18, 2017 .

Structure of the squadron

Commodore

LTG staff

Flying group

Technical group

The squadron , comparable to a regiment in the army, consists of the squadron staff , which reports directly to the commodore, as well as two groups ( battalion level ), the flying group (FlGrp) and the technical group (TGrp). Until a reclassification after the end of the Cold War, squadrons of the Luftwaffe also consisted of an air base group, which was equipped for ground defense from a security squadron and other units for operating the airfield, but the security units were disbanded and the other sub-units the other two groups assumed.

There was also an Air Force training workshop at the LTG site, where twelve electronics technicians were trained for devices and systems every year .

Commodore

No.	Surname	Beginning of the appointment	End of appointment
1	Colonel Alfons Vonier	1957	1961
2	Colonel Heinz Braun	1961	1964
3	Colonel Siegfried Gottschalt	1964	1970
4th	Colonel Helmut Schwarz	1970	1973
5	Colonel Waldemar Heuer	1973	1979
6th	Colonel Klaus Kemme	1979	1982
7th	Colonel Friedrich Hans Freisberg	1982	1985
8th	Colonel Dieter H. Kellein	1985	1987
9	Colonel Bernd Puhl	1987	1990
10	Colonel Rolf Korth	1990	1996
11	Colonel Roger Evers	1996	1999
12	Colonel Norbert Daniel	1999	2003
13	Colonel Rolf Fahrenholz	2003	2006
14th	Colonel Ludger Bette	2006	2010
15th	Colonel Christian Leitges	2010	2012
16	Colonel Markus Bestgen	2012	2015
17th	Colonel Daniel Draken	2015	2017

Incidents

Memorial at the Mannheim telecommunications tower

LTG 61 had to complain about several incidents, two of which are particularly memorable (1994 and 1995).

• On February 12, 1969, a Nord Noratlas 2501D of the Luftwaffe with the aircraft registration number 52 + 57 (serial number: D066) crashed into a farmhouse after taking off from Erding Air Base . Of the 14 inmates (including the co-pilot and a child in the house) 10 were killed. Among the survivors were three crew members (LTG 61). There was heavy snow drift at the start.

• On November 19, 1970, a Noratlas 2501D with the registration number 52 + 79 (work number: D095) crashed on the flight from Neubiberg to Kaufbeuren near Wolfratshausen. All five crew members of LTG 61 perished, including the commander, who survived the February 12, 1969 crash.

• On December 5, 1994 at 3:28 a.m., a Bell UH-1D of the squadron collided with the top of the Mannheim telecommunications tower and fell more than 200 meters vertically. The three air force crew members and the ambulance were killed on impact. The wreck of the UH-1D burned out. The pilot, who was seen as very experienced and had more than 2000 flight hours on the UH-1D, was presumably a few degrees off course, the exact cause of the accident was never determined. There is a memorial stone at the foot of the Mannheim telecommunications tower.

• On October 22, 1995, a Transall crashed while taking off at Ponta Delgada Airport ( Azores ), killing all seven crew members. The machine with the registration number 50 + 43 had landed on its way to the United States and in the Azores for refueling. At the start, she touched a telegraph pole and then fell into the sea.

Awards

• 1986: Kai-Uwe-von-Hassel-Förderpreis

See also

• Military airfield

Web links

Commons : Lufttransportgeschwader 61  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• LTG 61 on Luftwaffe.de
• PC flight simulator u. Aid project of the association helping together e. V.
• The SS labor camp at Penzing Air Base 1944/1945

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Servus Transall - Penzinger squadron signs off. Luftwaffe homepage, December 10, 2017, accessed December 16, 2017 . 
2. ^ Henrik Hartig: The earthquake in Agadir 1960. Air force, army and navy in humanitarian operations . In: Eberhard Birk , Heiner Möllers, Wolfgang Schmidt: The Air Force in the Modern Age . (= Writings on the history of the German Air Force, Volume 1), Essen 2011, ISBN 978-3-941149-26-7 , pp. 205-213.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Canceled: Open House is canceled! rth.info, September 28, 2007, accessed December 26, 2015 . 
4. ↑ The Air Force hands over the military search and rescue service to the Army. Homepage of the German Air Force, December 20, 2012, accessed on March 15, 2010 . 
5. ↑ Additional personnel from Landsberg will be brought in. Homepage of the German Air Force, January 18, 2013, accessed on March 15, 2013 . 
6. ↑ Ute Kindler: Luftwaffe during the major NATO exercise Trident Juncture 2015. In: luftwaffe.de. Luftwaffe, July 28, 2015, retrieved on December 29, 2015 : "From the Portuguese airfield Beja, the German units support tactical air transport." 
7. ^ Thomas Wiegold: Exercise Watch: Trident Juncture 2015 - the German participation. In: eyes straight ahead! (Blog). July 17, 2015, accessed on December 29, 2015 : "2 Transall C160, LTG 61 Penzing, approx. 20" 
8. ↑ Augsburger Allgemeine: Queuing for the aircraft show . In: Augsburger Allgemeine . ( augsburger-allgemeine.de [accessed June 21, 2017]).
9. ^ Augsburger Allgemeine: Fly-out at Lufttransportgeschwader 61 . In: Augsburger Allgemeine . ( augsburger-allgemeine.de [accessed September 29, 2017]).
10. ↑ Dieter Schöndorfer: It stays that way: 2018 is over. Augsburger Allgemeine, December 3, 2015, accessed December 15, 2015 . 
11. ^ Accident report Noratlas 52 + 57 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 6, 2019.
12. ^ Accident report Noratlas 52 + 79 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 6, 2019.
13. ^ Helicopter crashed into TV tower , Berliner Zeitung December 6, 1994
14. ↑ Wing touched a mast. In: welt.de. Die Welt, October 24, 1995, accessed December 26, 2015 . 

Coordinates: 48 ° 4 ′ 41.1 ″  N , 10 ° 54 ′ 45.8 ″  E