Origins The layout for
Fliegerhorst Giebelstadt began in June 1934 with site reconnaissance, and land purchasing began shortly afterwards. Official construction began in the late summer under the code name
Höhenflugzentrale Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule (Altitude Flight Central of the German Airline Pilot School). By January 1935 enough construction was completed for the airfield to open. It was, however, a school only in name because the restrictions of the
Treaty of Versailles, which ended
World War I, did not permit Germany to have a military air force. In addition to the airfield construction, in the village of
Giebelstadt, many housing units were built for both officers and enlisted men assigned to the airfield. Although the town was damaged significantly during
World War II, many of these houses and barracks still exist and are in use as private homes and apartments.
Fliegergruppe Giebelstadt was later redesignated as
Kampfgeschwader 155 (KG 155) and was equipped with an early version of the
Heinkel He 111 Bomber (He 111 B / E ). KG 155 moved to
Austria following the
Anschluss in 1938, being reassigned to
Wiener Neustadt. In addition, as Giebelstadt came in range of
Ninth Air Force Martin B-26 Marauder medium bombers and
P-47 Thunderbolt fighter bombers in eastern France, attacks on the airfield by these tactical units with 500-pound General-Purpose bombs; unguided rockets and .50 caliber machine gun sweeps were frequent. These attacks would take place when
Eighth Air Force heavy bombers (
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses,
Consolidated B-24 Liberators) were within interception range of the Luftwaffe jets assigned to the base, with the attacks being timed to have the maximum effect possible to keep the interceptors pinned down on the ground and be unable to attack the heavy bombers.
World War II USAAF use At the end of March 1945, the 12th Armored Division captured Giebelstadt and its airfield shortly before the end of the war in Europe. The airfield had been heavily bombed and Soldiers of the United States Army's 12th Armored Division rolled into Giebelstadt capturing it unopposed. In the fields surrounding the base, the Army Soldiers found
the burned out hulks of numerous bombers, night fighters and other military aircraft destroyed by the fleeing German forces,
Postwar USAF use With the end of combat in Germany on 7 May, the combat units were withdrawn and Giebelstadt became a garrison for the Army of Occupation, designated
Army Air Force Station Giebelstadt. Repairing the damage to the airfield and the support area was performed, in large part, by German Prisoners of War, into 1946 and turning the airfield into a usable, long-term facility to be used by the Air Force. The last POW was released from Giebelstadt on 20 August 1946. Then, for nearly a decade after the war, Giebelstadt airfield was used periodically by the Air Force until it was made a permanent
United States Air Forces in Europe airbase in 1956. With the base and facilities undergoing repair, USAFE moved the
55th Fighter Group to Giebelstadt in April 1946 from
Kaufbeuren Air Base, equipped first with P-47s, then, due to the long runway, upgraded the unit to
Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star jet aircraft later in 1946.
General Carl A "Tooey" Spaatz, Commanding General of the
Army Air Forces, visited the base in July 1946, witnessing an aerial review of the newly acquired P-80 jet fighters. In July 1956 the 603d ACW departed for
Langerkopf Air Station, and the radar station was taken over by the 602d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, which moved in from
Birkenfeld AS. Detachment "A", with four U-2 aircraft, arrived at Giebelstadt from
Wiesbaden Air Base in October 1956, the reason being that U-2 operations from the relatively isolated Giebelstadt would draw much less attention than from Wiesbaden. Towards the end of the year, Detachment A flew U-2s three times over
Albania,
Bulgaria,
Romania and
Yugoslavia. The detachment was operational at Giebelstadt until 15 November 1957, when it was closed down, and U-2 operations were moved to
Pakistan. In 1994, the OH-58 Kiowa units disbanded as the aircraft returned to the states for conversion to armed OH-58 Kiowa Warriors. Sept 1973 Also in 1994, tragedy struck the Giebelstadt military community in April when two Blackhawk helicopters of the
5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, assigned to Giebelstadt were mistakenly shot down by USAF F-15's over Iraq. All 26 people were killed, including eight Giebelstadt crew members. In 1995, the primary units on Giebelstadt Army Airfield were: the 69th ADA Brigade, the 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (UH-60s); A Company, 5th Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment (Big Windy CH-47s); C Company 6th Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment (War Eagles UH-60s); C Company 7th Battalion 158th Aviation Regiment (Blue Stars UH-60s) and B Company, 7th Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment (Third Corps Support Command aircraft maintenance). US Air Force units on Giebelstadt AAF were Det. 10, 617th Weather Squadron, providing weather support for the airfield and to the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) headquartered in Wuerzburg; and OL-C, 617th Comm Squadron, providing maintenance support for meteorological and navigation equipment in the area. The Department of Defense announced on 29 July 2005 plans for the return of eleven Army bases to Germany in fiscal year 2007. These installation returns were scheduled as part of plans for the 1st Infantry Division headquarters' return to the United States with its divisional flag in the summer of 2006. As part of this redeployment, Giebelstadt Army Airfield was closed by the United States Army on 23 June 2006.
Current use After being turned over to the German government in 2006, Giebelstadt Airfield has become a commercial airport used by general aviation aircraft. Due to the frequent wartime bombing attacks, much of the wartime airfield was destroyed. Almost all of the buildings on the airfield are of postwar vintage, although the modern buildings are constructed in a traditional German style. In the town of Giebelstadt, many of the buildings used for personnel barracks and housing still exist and still are being used. The original circular airfield still exists, in part, and some wartime concrete hardstands remain. A pre-war Luftwaffe hangar which was repaired remains to the west side of the original airfield, connected to an enclosing taxiway and some aircraft parking hardstands. The 1944 extension with the extended length jet runway remains, with the taxiways and hardstands for Me 262 use remaining. The runway, reduced in length in 1947 still has part of its wartime concrete remaining between the
Bundesstraße 19 (
B 19) highway and the current runway 20 (west) end. Remains of the original B 19 highway, which was cut in 1944 when the jet runway was built, still remain to the south of the airfield, today being a single lane farm road running north–south that intersects the airfield about midway between the runway ends. In the neighboring town of Wolkshausen, south of the airfield, the old B 19 is still known as
Giebelstadter Straße. ==See also==