Riaz military airfield
The Riaz military airfield was a military airfield in Riaz in the Swiss canton of Friborg . The former Réduit airfield of the Swiss Air Force was retired in 1944.
history
The Riaz airfield was located around three kilometers north of the district capital Bulle in the Gruyère region west of Lake Gruyère , between Riaz and Marsens at the “la Fin de Plan” plain, where the Autobahn 12 runs today . Close to the 1940 Réduit border .
It was built as a military airfield during the Second World War with a runway as a grass runway and was in operation from September 2nd to 8th in 1939 and during a second mobilization from November 1943 to August 1944. It was a simple airfield that was armed with two Bunkering was secured. His job was air traffic control and defense in the event of an alarm. Since there were no enemy aircraft in the sky in the Gruyère region, the military pilots spent most of their time training.
The airfield was occupied by Fliegerstaffel 2 , whose emblem "En avant advienne que pourra" (Forward, come what may) with the crane of Gruyères was created here.
When it was first mobilized , the Dewoitine D.27 fighter planes and the C-35 biplanes were stationed at the Riaz military airfield as well as reconnaissance and ground attack planes . The most modern aircraft that was still able to land and take off on a grass runway was the C-36 reconnaissance and ground attack aircraft , which was in Riaz for a while in 1944.
A platoon of observers had to keep an eye on the sky. There were only a few high-altitude overflights by German bombers from Germany to Italy and back. No plane had to take off from Riaz for any action. There were three men on site between the two periods of activity to maintain the system. A demolition detachment was present to blow up the facilities in the event of an invasion.
The church of Riaz, which was in the axis of the runway (location of today's motorway), served as a beacon or flag bearer and transmitted useful information to the pilots.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ La Société d'histoire du canton de Friborg (SHCF): Mathieu Allemann: La Gruyère en guerre. Matura thesis, Collège du Sud, Bulle 2009.
- ↑ Aérodrome de Riaz
Coordinates: 46 ° 38 '52 " N , 7 ° 3' 40" E ; CH1903: 571 092 / 166365