Krefeld Airfield is a former military airfield, located 4.2 km northeast of

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

History

Airfield construction began, after much debate, as a

Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to: *''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places *''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym *Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic ve ...

military airfield during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in 1916 It consisted of 8 Hangars, a maintenance hangar, a fuel depot, and a railway connection. In 1917 it was completed and leased to the German Reich at no cost. A provision was made however that the land would be returned to its original civilian owners if the airfield did not exist anymore in 30 years time. The provision ran from 1 April 1916 until 31 March 1945. After World War I the airfield was occupied by Belgian and French military forces. in 1925 the hangars were taken apart and transported to Belgium. After the occupying forces had left the city of Krefeld took control over the airfield as a civil airport, and on 2 February 1926, the first German civil aircraft landed at the airfield. By the middle of May air service Krefeld-Essen-Berlin was started, and soon the service from Krefeld was taken over by

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...

. Connections to Essen and Cologne ensured connections to 93 other airports. In 1926 135 passengers and 850 kilos of freight were transported, but 4 years later this had increased to 960 passengers and 32,559 kilos of freight. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Krefeld became a

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

Fliegerhorst, and was home to JG 1 and

JG 52 ''Jagdgeschwader'' 52 (JG 52) was a German World War II fighter ''Geschwader'' (wing) that exclusively used the Messerschmitt Bf 109 throughout the war. The unit originally formed near Munich in November 1938, then moved to a base near Stuttga ...

. The United States Army moved into the area in April 1945 and was converted by IX Engineering Command,

Ninth Air Force The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint De ...

into an Army Air Forces advanced Landing Ground, designated Y-61. Air Force units used the airfield as a casualty evacuation and combat resupply airfield by the IX Air Service Command. After the German Capitulation on 8 May, it was re-designated as "Army Air Forces Station Krefeld". It was used during May and June 1945 as a Tactical Air Depot for the storage and destruction of former Luftwaffe Aircraft. Army Air Forces units moved out on 15 June, turning the field over to the British as part of the

British Occupation zone of Germany Germany was already de facto military occupation, occupied by the Allies of World War II, Allies from the real German Instrument of Surrender, fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 Octo ...

. The British found the airfield of little use. The rise of the jet engine meant the airfield was not large enough, and it had no room for expansion. They only used parts of the terrain as a barracks, the rest was returned to agricultural use. In 1947 a request was made with the Allied military to release the terrain for civilian use, and in 1950 the former airfield was released to the city of Krefeld. Today there is little evidence of the airfield with the exception of a small memorial of the former airfield (51° 21' 46.55" N 6° 37' 0.48" E)

References

Y-61 Krefeld
* Johnson, David C. (1988), U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO), D-Day to V-E Day; Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama. {{authority control World War II airfields in Germany Airports established in 1944 Airports in North Rhine-Westphalia