Turtmann military airfield
The Turtmann military airfield ( ICAO code LSMJ ) was a military airfield of the Swiss Air Force in Turtmann in the Swiss canton of Valais . The former Reduit airfield was closed until 2003. Turtmann is considered to be the last cavern airfield , the underground facilities of which have largely been preserved in their original state.
prehistory
In the 1920s there was a grass runway on the flat terrain near Turtmann. For Fliegerkompanie 8 (Fl Kp 8) with its commander Hauptmann Leo Künzli and their biplanes Häfeli DH-5 and Fokker D.VII , Turtmann became a rehearsal course location and in 1929 a maneuver base. From 1939 glider operations began on the 600 meter long grass runway.
Second World War
When the army withdrew into the Reduit, various airfields were located outside the Reduit's defensive limits. Reduit airfields had to be built as a replacement under great time pressure and effort: in the Bernese Oberland the airfields Saanen , St. Stephan , Zweisimmen , Reichenbach , Frutigen , Interlaken and Meiringen and in Valais Turtmann, Raron , Ulrichen and Münster .
In May 1941 the army negotiated with the local authority and the landowners of Turtmann about the creation of an airfield. In June 1941, the order was given to start construction work in the Reduitstellung immediately .
On July 31, 1941, credit was approved for the "expansion of the provincial fortification 1st tranche" including the construction of ten new airfields, including Turtmann. In November 1941, the civil engineering work on the new Turtmann airfield was completed. The leveled area of 140 × 800 meters was expanded in 1942. The wooden hangars at the Turtmann field base were approved with the loan for the "expansion of the state fortifications 2nd installment".
By the end of 1943, a hard-surfaced runway and taxiway had been created so that the aircraft could take off and land on the important war base even in bad weather conditions. This could only be achieved with hard-surfaced slopes and taxiways. At the same time, a command post (KP), storage shed, launching system, seven concreted aircraft shelters, eight horseshoe-shaped splinter weirs were built to protect the area when the aircraft were ammunitioned.
Cold War
From 1951 to 1958 tunnels for aircraft, command posts and ammunition caverns were excavated in the rock. In 1965 the hard surface slope extension from 1200 to 1500 meters and the Rollstrasse North were completed. The M2 ammunition cavern was built from 1973 to 1977. In 1979/80, various AC protective measures were improved (KP access and ammunition niches) and a material magazine was created. In 1983 the runway lighting was set up. In 1989/90 aircraft alarm shelters were built.
Turtmann was the base for two squadrons: Fliegerstaffel 1 ( F-5 ) and Fliegerstaffel 21 ( Hunter ). In 1990 Turtmann owned a runway 08/26 2000 meters long and 40 meters wide made of asphalt.
Army XXI
Turtmann airfield was closed in 2003 as a result of austerity measures by Army XXI . Airfield Division 3 stationed in Turtmann and the F-5 Tiger Squadron 1 were disbanded. The F-5 Tiger Squadron 6 (pilots from French-speaking Switzerland) was relocated to Payerne and the Tiger Squadron 13 there was dissolved.
The underground hangar was after the end of military operations for the storage of M113 armored personnel carrier of the Swiss Army on.
Further civil use
The former military airfield now serves as a multifunctional event location (horse events, motor sports, delta landing area, music events, venue of the Federal Scheller and Trycher meeting 2005, stage location of the Italian Giro Donne, stage location of the Gigathlon, parking lot for the Open Air Gampel ).
In 2014, Sabine Zaalene's triennial for contemporary art in Valais made the railway an object of art with the label “THERE IS A MAN”.
literature
Web links
- DDPS dated July 11, 2002: Turtmann military airfield is closed
- Forgotten airfields in Switzerland: Turtmann VS
- Dismantling Turtmann Airfield Phase 1, 2009
- Dismantling of shelters at Turtmann airfield, 2009
- Exhibition Turtmann Airfield 2014: In Another World
Individual evidence
- ^ Armasuisse: Inventory of historically significant air force infrastructure: Turtmann
- ↑ Airfield Department 3 (Flpl Abt 3)
- ↑ Turtmann VS, Reduit airfield with rock cavern
- ↑ Turtmann-Unterems: multifunctional event space
- ↑ Triennial in Valais 2014
Coordinates: 46 ° 18 ′ 16 " N , 7 ° 42 ′ 45" E ; CH1903: 621 108 / 128140