Müritz Airpark , previously known as ''Rechlin–Lärz Airfield'') is an

airfield An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

in the village of

Rechlin Rechlin is a municipality in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany, around 100 km (60 mi) northwest of Berlin. The town's airport has a long history and was the Luftwaffe's main testing ground for new aircraft designs in Nazi Germany. ...

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in population; it covers an are ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The airport is not used for scheduled traffic but features general aviation and is home to other leisure activities as well. Additionally, the music festival Fusion Festival takes place here.

History

The airport was once part of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

era's

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

main testing ground, or ''Erprobungsstelle'' for new aircraft designs, the heart of which was actually centered on two large turf areas some due north (at ) of the 21st century era paved-runway airport facility. The core airfield of the Luftwaffe facility took the form of a typical pre-World War II

aerodrome An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes inc ...

, with no clearly defined "runways", being bounded b
a roughly hexagonal-layout perimeter road
that still exists today, defining an area approximately across within it of about 234.3 hectares, or 578.9 acres, which today is the site of the annual Fusion music festival. The ''Rechlin data sheets'' on Luftwaffe and captured Allied aircraft are considered by many aviation historians to be among the most reliable sources for aircraft performance data from the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

era. Its role was taken over after 1945 by the Bundeswehr military aviation installation at

Manching Manching () is a municipality in the district of Pfaffenhofen, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Paar, 7 km southeast of Ingolstadt. In the late Iron Age, there was a Celtic settlement, the Oppidum of Manching, on the locati ...

, within

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

borders, since Rechlin was well inside the borders of

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

for 45 years. Construction of the first airfield at Rechlin started in 1916; the airfield was officially opened on 29 August 1918 under the governance of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

. After the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the airfield was closed again and many of its installations dismantled. During the 1920s, the airfield was reopened as a civilian airbase, but it was soon used as a testing ground for the secret German air force experiments under the

Treaty of Rapallo Following World War I there were two Treaties of Rapallo, both named after Rapallo, a resort on the Ligurian coast of Italy: * Treaty of Rapallo, 1920, an agreement between Italy and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (the later Yugoslav ...

. The site was probably chosen for its remote location in an almost uninhabited area. On February 26, 1936, per order of Wehrmacht ''Generalfeldmarschall''

Werner von Blomberg Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg (2 September 1878 – 13 March 1946) was a German general and politician who served as the first Minister of War in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1938. Blomberg had served as Chief of the ''Truppenamt'', equivalent ...

, the Rechlin airfield became the official testing ground of the newly formed Luftwaffe. The turf-surfaced site, still bounded by the aforementioned hexagonal-layout ring road around its perimeter, was designated as the central ''Erprobungsstelle (E-Stelle)'' test facility of the Luftwaffe, and was expanded by constructing two more airfields: a second, smaller turf-surfaced field just east of the main site in nearby Roggentin and just south of the main site at Lärz, the latter of which became the modern 21st century airfield site. Construction work on the airfields and the accompanying barracks was partly carried out by forced labor from nearby

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

Ravensbrück. Many of the Luftwaffe's new combat aircraft prototypes were test flown at the main turf-fielded Rechlin facilities; the special operations combat wing of the Luftwaffe,

KG 200 ''Kampfgeschwader'' 200 (KG 200) (" irCombat Squadron 200") was a German Luftwaffe special operations unit during World War II. The unit carried out especially difficult bombing and transport operations and long-distance reconnaissance flights, t ...

, with its array of captured planes was a regular guest at the airfields. After several Allied bombing runs on the primary turf-surfaced aerodrome field of Rechlin, and the satellite Roggentin airfield in 1944, testing of late-war planes was shifted just southwards to Lärz. On April 10, 1945, a final bomber attack by the

US Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

– amounting to 11 B-17s and 159 B-24s from the

8th Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces S ...

which was targeting airfields used by German jet fighters – almost completely destroyed the airfields; what was left was blown up by the German garrison before Soviet troops arrived at Rechlin on May 2. In 1946, the

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

established a permanent presence at the airbase. The 19th Guards fighter-bomber regiment''Sowjetische Truppen in Deutschland 1945 bis 1994'', Gedenkalbum, Ausgabe Moskau, Verlag «Junge Garde», 1994; , Seite 21. of the

16th Air Army The 16th Red Banner Air Army () was the most important formation of the Special Purpose Command. Initially formed during the Second World War as a part of the Soviet Air Force, it was from its 2002 reformation to its 2009 disbandment the tactical ...

and a helicopter squadron were stationed at Lärz; the airfield at Rechlin was used by the

National People's Army The National People's Army (, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (DDR) from 1956 until 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) and the (Bord ...

(NVA). Military usage of the airfields continued until 1993, when the last Russian air force units were moved home. The Rechlin airfield was reopened for civilian use in 1994.

References

External links

Official website

Website of the aviation museum in Rechlin

Website of the cultural organization ''Kulturkosmos'' located at Rechlin–Lärz Airfield
( Fusion Festival organisers) * *
RonaldV's "Abandoned, Forgotten & Little-Known Airfields in Europe" listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rechlin-Larz Airfield Aviation research institutes Former Soviet military air bases in East Germany Luftwaffe bases Airports in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

History

See also

References

External links