Horse Field Air Base
| Former horse field air base | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Characteristics | |||
| ICAO code | EDSP / ETSP | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Height above MSL | 388 m (1273 ft ) | ||
| Transport links | |||
| Distance from the city center | 8 km north of Bad Sobernheim | ||
| Basic data | |||
| opening | 1939 | ||
| closure | 1997 | ||
| operator | most recently air force of the German armed forces | ||
| Start-and runway | |||
| 09/27 | 2435 m × 45 m asphalt | ||
The airbase Pferdsfeld was an airbase of the German air force . The air base was in the Soonwald part of the Hunsrück near Bad Sobernheim in Rhineland-Palatinate . The closest air base is Büchel in the Cochem-Zell district , around 50 km away.
Horse field last served as a base for Jagdgeschwader 73 (JG 73). The air base was officially closed on July 15, 1997 and the squadron was relocated to Laage in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
history
Development of the airfield
After the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, the establishment and maintenance of air forces in Germany was prohibited. But this ban was circumvented with a camouflage system. It was not until 1935 that playing hide and seek was given up; foreign countries were shown how far the development of the air force had come. Because there were too few airfields in Germany, the investigation of new deployment and alternative sites was ordered in October 1935.
1938 to 1945
Area regulation work was carried out in the area around horse field . From April 6 to June 18, 1938, the Auf Heistert site was leveled. On August 29, 1939, a Fieseler stork landed in horses field. The next day twelve close reconnaissance aircraft of the type Hs 126 arrived on the edge of the Soonwald. They landed on Heistert and were placed under Im Roth at the edge of the forest . The crews were billeted in horses field and duck pond. In mid-October 1939 this squadron was relocated to Rockenhausen . The Luftwaffe then stationed more aircraft here until the end of the war.
1951 to 1958
In March 1951, the occupying power responsible here, France , began to survey the area over a large area. A little later, a 320-hectare site was confiscated and expanded under occupation law, which the French air forces used for exercises and maneuvers. In 1952, for example, the first American planes to land in horses field. In addition, car races were sometimes held on the site.
The official status from 1952 to 1955 was " RCAF Base Pferdfeld" as a location of the Royal Canadian Air Force , which was part of the original British occupation forces in West Germany.
In 1957 the military airfield was handed over to the US Air Force , now as a NATO facility. For the first time, the German building authorities intervened. Among other things, the runway in the west and east was extended to a total of 3000 meters.
A Canadian unit leader had refused to continue flying because of the sometimes strong aircraft noise and the acute danger for the residents of Rehbach , who lived in the approach lane. After lengthy negotiations, the Americans stopped flight operations at the end of 1958 and handed the place over to the Federal Republic of Germany.
1958 to 1997
In October 1961, Fighter Wing 73, equipped with Canadair Saber Mk 6 fighters, was relocated from Oldenburg to Horse Field and renamed Fighter Bomber Wing 42 in October 1964 . From 1966 it was converted to the Fiat G.91R / 3 and renamed the Leichtes Kampfgeschwader 42 in May 1967 . During the Cold War , several NATO partners used the airfield for maneuvering and reconnaissance purposes, including in 1967 and September 1974 the EC 2/12 "Cournouaille" from Cambrai in France with their Dassault Super Mystère B2. On April 1, 1975, the name was changed to Jagdbombergeschwader 35 and the conversion to McDonnell Douglas F-4F Phantom II fighters. The transport and liaison aircraft of the Dornier Do 28 D Skyservant squadron were internally known as Schinderhannes -Airlines . In May 1979, the 338th Squadron of the Greek Air Force moved from Andravida with 5 F-4E Phantom II to horses field. In 1981 the 131st Filo of the Turkish Air Force was relocated from Konya with 5 F-4E Phantom II and in autumn 1984 the No. 43 Squadron of the Royal Air Force with 5 F-4 Phantom II FGR.2 from Leuchars and in the summer of 1985 the 56th Squadron of the Royal Air Force from Wattisham 4 F-4 Phantom II FGR.2.
As a result of the changes in the political situation after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 , the German armed forces site in Pferdfeld was no longer deemed necessary. The squadron officially said goodbye on July 3, 1997 and was relocated to Laage in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
present
A nature reserve has been designated within the western part. A large part of the airfield was used as a test and event center for Adam Opel AG . Use later passed to TRIWO Kfz-Testcenter GmbH. The former runway and the corresponding feeders are used to develop driving dynamics and chassis tuning, as well as driver assistance systems such as ACC , ADAS and NCAP . Steering tests (also in the high-speed range), as well as various slalom and tipping tests, such as the " moose test ", are carried out here. The 1.6 km² facility is also used for driving events and safety training.
All the shelters in the western part , the large shipyard hall, the two apartment blocks and various bunkers were demolished. All buildings and most of the space are rented or leased. For further needs z. Currently built by TRIWO, the owner of the entire airfield area, additional halls.
Since November 25, 2011, the largest solar park in Rhineland-Palatinate has been built on the former airfield site on an area of 60 hectares . All 135,000 solar modules have been installed since July 2012 and can be fed into the public power grid with a maximum output of 28.3 megawatts via the new nine-kilometer cable route to Monzingen .
Web links
- Private page in English
- Private page in German. Retrieved November 3, 2019 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ see the map of Germany from Ursula Lehmkuhl Ed .: Country Report Canada . Series of publications, 10200. Federal Agency for Civic Education BpB, Bonn 2018, in which author. Essay The "Peaceable Kingdom". Canada in the international community 1945–2016, map p. 530.
- ^ Description of the Opel Test Center in Pferdfeld ( memento from August 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on opel.de.
- ↑ 135,000 modules: Horse field completed ( Memento from March 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive )