Peenemünde Airfield: Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox airport |
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| name = Peenemünde Airfield |
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| nativename = |
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| nativename-a = |
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| nativename-r = |
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| image = AA5 Traveller at Peenemünde Airfield.jpg |
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| caption = [[AA5 Traveller]] at Peenemünde airfield |
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| IATA = PEF |
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| ICAO = EDCP |
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| type = Public |
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| owner = |
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| operator = Usedomer Fluggesellschaft mbH |
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| city-served = |
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| location = [[Usedom]] |
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| elevation-f = 7 |
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| elevation-m = 2 |
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| coordinates = {{Coord|54|09|28|N|013|46|22|E|type:airport|display=inline,title}} |
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| website = |
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| metric-elev = |
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| metric-rwy = |
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| r1-number = 13T/31T |
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| r1-length-f = 7,874 |
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| r1-length-m = 2,400 |
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| r1-surface = [[Concrete]] |
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| stat-year = |
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| stat1-header = |
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| stat1-data = |
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| stat2-data = |
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}} |
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'''Peenemünde Airfield''' {{Airport codes|PEF|EDCP}}<ref>{{WAD|EDCP}}</ref> is an airfield along the [[Baltic Sea]] north of [[Peenemünde]], [[Germany]]. Today round trips in light aircraft take place from Peenemünde Airfield. Bus tours are also available, on which one can visit the former shelters of the NVA and the remnants of the [[V-1 flying bomb facilities]]. Because of its long runway the airfield Peenemünde is also a location for [[flight school]]s. |
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==History== |
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On April 2, 1936, the [[Reich Air Ministry]] paid 750,000 [[German Reichsmark]]s to the town of [[Wolgast]]<ref name=Dornberger> |
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{{cite book |last=Dornberger|first=Walter|authorlink=Walter Dornberger|editor= |others= |
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|title=V2--Der Schuss ins Weltall|year=1952: US translation ''V-2'' Viking Press:New York, 1954|publisher=Bechtle Verlag|location=Esslingan|page=41}}</ref> for the whole Northern peninsula of Usedom.<ref name=Irving>{{cite book |last=Irving|first=David|authorlink=David Irving|title=The Mare's Nest|year=1964|publisher=William Kimber and Co|location=London|page=17}}</ref> The airfield began service on 1 April 1938,{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} and on the same date, the Air Ministry officially separated '''Peenemünde-West''' from the joint command that included the adjacent Army Research Center [[Peenemünde]].<ref name=Neufeld/>{{Rp|63}} |
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As ''Werk West'', the [[Luftwaffe]] Test Site ({{lang-de|[[:de:Peenemünde-West|Erprobungsstelle der Luftwaffe]]}})<ref name=Neufeld> |
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{{cite book |last=Neufeld|first=Michael J.|title=The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era|year=1995|publisher=The Free Press|location=New York|page=55,63}}</ref>{{Rp|55}} was used for testing experimental aircraft (''Erprobungsflugzeug'') such as the [[Heinkel He 176]] (flown at Peenemünde on June 20, 1939)<ref name=Klee> |
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{{cite book |last=Klee|first=Ernst|authorlink=|author2=Merk, Otto|title=The Birth of the Missile:The Secrets of Peenemünde|year=1963, English translation 1965|publisher=Gerhard Stalling Verlag|location=Hamburg|page=117}}</ref> and the [[Messerschmitt Me 163]] rocket-powered fighter ([[code name]]d 'Peenemünde 30' by British intelligence - the '30' referring to the object's measured wingspan in feet).<ref name=Ordway>{{cite book |last=Ordway |first= Frederick I., III.|authorlink=Frederick I. Ordway III |author2=Sharpe, Mitchell R.|title=The Rocket Team|series=Apogee Books Space Series 36|page=117}}</ref> At the northeast edge of the [[concrete]] airfield was a [[V-1 flying bomb (facilities)|launch ramp]] for testing the [[V-1 flying bomb]] and, on which in 1943, RAF officer [[Constance Babington Smith]], working at [[RAF Medmenham]], detected a small winged aircraft ('Peenemünde 20') while [[V-1 and V-2 Intelligence|viewing an Allied reconnaissance photograph]].<ref name=Cooksley> By late 1941, the Army Research Center at Peenemünde possessed the technologies essential to the success of the V2. |
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{{cite book |last=Cooksley |first=Peter G |year=1979 |title=Flying Bomb |location=New York |publisher=Charles Scribner’s Sons |page=27,44}}</ref>{{Rp|44}} The airfield was also used for take-off of [[Heinkel He 111]] for initial [[Operation Crossbow#V-1 defence|air-launch testing of V-1s]]. V-1 launch crew training was at the nearby resort of [[Zempin]], and after [[Bombing of Peenemünde in World War II|the August 1943 Operation ''Hydra'' bombing]] of the area, V-1 flight testing was moved to [[Brüsterort]].<ref name=Cooksley/>{{Rp|27}} Peenemünde West also developed [[Battle of the Beams|World War II night-navigation and radar systems]] (Dr. [[Johannes Plendl]]).{{Citation needed|reason=Statement originally at Peenemünde wikipage|date=December 2007}} After the [[2nd Belorussian Front]] under General [[Konstantin Rokossovsky]] captured the [[Świnoujście|Swinemünde]] port and [[Usedom]] island on May 5, 1945, the airfield became part of the [[Allied Occupation Zones in Germany|Soviet Zone of Occupation]]. |
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===Post-war=== |
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[[File:Peenemünde Airfield.png|thumbnail|left|Peenemünde Airfield]] |
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In 1956, the airfield received a new 2,465 metre-long concrete runway, which is oriented in a northwesterly direction and allows the operation of modern military jet planes. A further landmark is the collection of [[radio beacon]]s at the northwest end, which were built{{When|date=May 2011}} on artificial islands in the sea. In 1961, the airfield was transferred to the [[National People's Army]] (NVA), which used it until 1989. After 1989, the airfield was used among other things as parking area of former military vehicles of the NVA. From Summer 2010, a high-performance [[jet trainer]] [[aircraft]] [[Aero L-39]] Albatros of the former [[National People's Army]] (NVA) is back on Peenemünde Airfield.<ref>[http://www.migflug.com/jet-fluege/angebote/l-39-albatros-in-deutschland.html Aero L-39 Albatros on Peenemünde]</ref> |
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{{Commons category|position=left|Peenemünde Airfield}} |
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==References== |
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[[File:Air-34-184s2a.jpg|thumb|250px|April 1943 photo reconnaissance image of [[Usedom]] island, with airfield at upper left]] |
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{{reflist}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Peenemunde Airfield}} |
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[[Category:Airports in Germany]] |
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[[Category:V-1 flying bomb facilities]] |
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[[Category:World War II sites of Nazi Germany]] |
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