Prague-Kbely military airfield

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Prague-Kbely military airfield
Letiste Praha-Kbely.jpg
Characteristics
ICAO code LKKB
Coordinates

50 ° 7 '18 "  N , 14 ° 32' 43"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 7 '18 "  N , 14 ° 32' 43"  E
Height above MSL 280 m (919  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center 11 km northeast of Prague
Street Mladoboleslavská, 197 00 Praha 9 - Kbely
Local transport Bus stop "Letecké muzeum" (bus line ...)
Basic data
opening December 1918
operator Air Force of the Czech Republic
Start-and runway
06/24 2080 m × 50 m asphalt

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The Prague-Kbely military airfield ( Czech Vojenské Letiště Praha Kbely ) is a military airfield in the northeast of the Czech capital Prague on the districts of Kbely , Hloubětín and Vysočany .

Currently, he serves the Czech Air Force as a base of 24 air base " TG Masaryk ", which includes the aircraft flight readiness of the Czech Defense Ministry belong.

The Kbely airfield is located just south of the Prague-Letňany airfield . a. became known through the appearance of ground squirrels .

history

The plateau between the villages of Kbely, Letňany and on the outskirts of Vysočany was selected for the construction of an airfield in November 1918. Some buildings and cloth hangars were erected here, and the first aircraft took off as early as December 1918. This was the first full-fledged airfield to be built on Czech territory after the First World War . Before that there was only the Eger airfield in western Bohemia, which was built during the time of the Danube Monarchy , and a temporary airfield in a field near Strašnice in the east of Prague. The airfield became more and more the heart of Czechoslovak aviation until this function was taken over by Praha-Ruzyně Airport , which opened in 1937 .

In 1927 the motorcycle races for the Czechoslovak TT were held on the airport grounds, and one year later the Czechoslovakian Grand Prix for motorcycles . In 1928 the water tower was built, which also served as a beacon with a brightness of one million candelas . In 1929 the 6th bomber regiment was stationed here. In 1933 the first major military air day was celebrated. For the first time in Czechoslovakia aerobatic teams were seen. In 1936, 200 aircraft took part in the flight day and 250,000 spectators came.

At the end of the 1930s, the airfield and planes were being prepared for occupation by Germany. At this time in 1938 the 4th Fighter Regiment equipped with B-534 and the 6th Air Regiment with bomb and reconnaissance aircraft of the types B-71 and A-101 were based in Kbely . The airfield was one of the first occupied objects in Bohemia. The planes fell into German hands, the pilots joined the foreign resistance. The airfield was converted into workshops and a civil airfield by the German crew. At the end of the Second World War it was in the hands of the Air Force . The Royal Air Force flew air raids on Kbely, the most massive of which occurred on March 25, 1945. During the Prague uprising , the planes were sabotaged to prevent the Germans from escaping. Here the opposite legionnaires from the Soviet Union and from Great Britain back. After the Second World War, the airfield was reconstructed and returned to its original purpose as a military airfield.

Todays use

Since July 1994 the Czech Air Force has served as a base for transport aircraft , initially under the designation 6th Transport Air Base and since July 1, 2003, the 24th Air Base "TG Masaryk". You are subordinate to three flying squadrons.

  • 241st squadron, VIP squadron, equipped with two A319CJ , two Jak-40 and one CL-601 for the transport of members of the government and units of the Czech army at home and abroad
  • 242nd squadron, equipped with four CASA C-295 M and four L-410UVP-E for various transport tasks and the implementation of MedEvac missions; In addition, there are two special L-410FG for air survey tasks and calibration of radio technology on military airfields.
  • 243rd squadron, helicopter squadron, equipped with three Mi-8S , one Mi-8P , four Mi-17 and about ten W-3W Sokol . Of the latter, three are based for SAR tasks at Plzeň-Líně airfield .

The airfield area also includes the Czech Aviation Research and Testing Institute (since 1922) and the Kbely Aviation Museum (since 1968).

Web links

Commons : Kbely Airfield  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Bernd Kienle: The 24th air transport base in Praha-Kbely. In: Flierrevue No. 4/2020, pp. 22–24.