| Coleman Barracks/Coleman Army Airfield Mannheim/Sandhofen Airfield (Y-79) | |
|---|---|
Baden-Württemberg, Germany  Coleman Army Airfield Coleman Army Airfield (Germany) | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Military airfield on foreign soil |
| Location | |
 | |
| Coordinates | 49°33′47″N008°27′46″E / 49.56306°N 8.46278°E /49.56306; 8.46278 |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1925 |
| In use | 1937–1945 (Luftwaffe) Apr–July 1945 (USAAF) 1945–2013 (United States Army) |
Coleman Barracks/Coleman Army Airfield (ICAO: ETOR) is aUnited States Army military installation located in theSandhofen district ofMannheim, Germany. It is assigned to U.S. Army, Europe (USAREUR) and administered by theU.S. Army Installation Management Command-Europe (IMCOM-E). Coleman Barracks should not be confused with the former "Coleman Kaserne", located inGelnhausen. The U.S. Army named the airfield afterLieutenant Colonel Wilson D. Coleman, who was killed in action inFrance on 30 July 1944.[1]
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The firstcommercial airport in Mannheim was founded on 16 May 1925, asFlughafen Mannheim-Heidelberg-Ludwigshafen in the northern district of Sandhofen. With its opening Mannheim became part of an importantair track, running from north to south and vice versa. In the late 1920s and early 1930sDeutsche Aero Lloyd operated cargo and passenger flights fromHamburg toZürich stopping in Mannheim. Balair fromSwitzerland flew betweenGeneva andAmsterdam viaBasel, Mannheim,Frankfurt, andEssen.Badisch-Pfälzische Luftverkehrs AG operated theBlack Forest route toKonstanz, viaKarlsruhe,Baden-Baden andVillingen.
In 1926 the airfield was transferred to Mannheim-Neuostheim, now calledMannheim City Airport. The airfield in Sandhofen was closed to the public and rebuilt as theFliegerhorst-Kaserne in 1937 as aLuftwaffe base. At the beginning ofWorld War II, the III/JG 53 (3rd Group, Jagdgeschwader 53) fighter unit "Pik-As" (Ace of Spades) was based here, commanded by one of Germany's top combat pilots,Werner Mölders. This unit operated 43 newMesserschmitt Bf 109E-1 fighter aircraft at the start of the war. Also stationed at the airbase on the first day of the war was oneStaffel (squadron) of JG 72 operating 16 of the olderArado Ar 68 biplane fighters then being used as a primitive night fighter. In September 1944 a prisoner of war camp was installed on the site which was operated and guarded by theSS, holding 80POWs fromPoland, Luxembourg andRussia.
After World War II, the United States Army took over the barracks in the fall of 1945, giving it the temporary name of "Y-79". Until mid-1949 the area was used as a collecting point for unserviceable automobile material and for surplus storage. In 1951, a replacement depot was established at Coleman Barracks and served as the staging area for all troops arriving in Germany.Throughout its operation by the U.S. Army, rumors circulated of an extensive set of tunnels beneath the airfield. Some of the rumors concerned tunnels under the base and a number of underground hangars behind the barracks of the Signal Corps units. The tunnels and other underground facilities were supposedly flooded after the war. There were reports of an alley that ran behind a cluster of barracks located next to a pronounced slope where numerous bunker entrances were located, all of which were rumored to be locked. Despite any hard evidence, these rumors persisted over the years and stories of hidden Nazi bunkers and tunnels were passed on from one generation of soldiers stationed at Coleman to the next.
The airport is located 8.5 km (5.28 mi) north of the Mannheim city center in the district of Sandhofen, 2.5 km (1.6 mi) east of the riverRhine and 3 km (1.86 mi) south ofLampertheim.
It is surrounded byAutobahn 6 (A6) to the south and a state highway(Bundesstraße 44 (B44)) to the west; theMannheim–Frankfurt railway train line (between Frankfurt and Mannheim) runs 1.6 km (1 mi) to the east.
The airport has one paved runway (900 m (2954 ft) x 20 m (67 ft)). The runway offeredPrecision Approach Path Indicator and illumination. Discussions were held about extending the runway to 1200 metres, but those plans were withdrawn due to severe protests by nearby residents. The airfield was in use from 06:30 – 23:59 daily. Radar approach had been available since June 2002.
Coleman was the onlyU.S. Army airfield in Germany that had its own approach control zone and provided approach control for several airports in the vicinity, both military and civilian, such as Mannheim City Airport (civilian),Speyer airfield (civilian),Worms airfield (civilian), andHeidelberg Army Airfield (military).
A new state of the art six-storycontrol tower was built in 2004. Besides air-conditioned offices, briefing rooms, restrooms and an elevator, the tower accommodated the Colemanradar approach control room. The facility also hosted a US Army helicopter maintenance facility and the only US Army military prison in Europe, theUnited States Army Corrections Facility – Europe, which relocated toSembach as of December 2014.[2]
When it was the only maintenance base for SikorskyUH-60 Black Hawk and BoeingAH-64 Apache helicopters in Europe, Coleman Airfield had more take-offs and landings than any otherUS Army airfield in Germany. TheColeman Aero Club (CAC) was the only U.S. military non-profit flying organization in Europe. The CAC provided flight training to member forces ofNATO, theUnited States Armed Forces, and civilians. It operated a fleet of several US-registeredCessna aircraft. Since the airfield at Coleman Barracks has ceased operations, the club has relocated to Mainz-Finthen Airport near Wackernheim, southwest of Mainz.
In 2004, theAmerican Forces Network (AFN)- Europe consolidated its headquarters and Radio/TV studios from Frankfurt and Heidelberg to Coleman Barracks. Coleman Barracks also had a smallpost exchange (PX) andbowling alley.
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 Coleman Barracks, Mannheim GermanyDrive through |
As part of the ongoing realignment of US forces in Europe, the Army shut down most operations in Mannheim in 2012. Earlier plans (as of September 2012) called for closure of all USAREUR facilities in Mannheim and Heidelberg by 31 August 2013.[3] In February 2015, USAREUR announced Coleman Barracks will be retained temporarily as an interim site to store and maintain pre-positioned vehicles and equipment that will be used to support U.S. ArmyRegionally Aligned Forces when they rotate into theater for training, exercises or contingency operations.[4][5] Upon final closure the facility will be returned to the German government.
In August 2021, the US Army announced that the presence in Mannheim was to be kept as part of an effort to deploy an additional 500 troops to Europe.[6]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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