| 31st Air Base | |
|---|---|
31. Baza Lotnicza | |
| NearNowe Miasto, Poznań in Poland | |
 | |
| Site information | |
| Owner | Ministry of Defence |
| Operator | Polish Air Force |
 | |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1941 (1941) |
| In use | 1954–present |
| Garrison information | |
| Garrison | 3rd Tactical Squadron |
Poznań-Krzesiny Airport | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | military | ||||||||||
| Serves | Poznań | ||||||||||
| Focus city for | Poznań | ||||||||||
| Built | 1941 | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 276 ft / 84 m | ||||||||||
 Interactive map of Poznań-Krzesiny Airport | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
The31st Air Base (Polish:31. Baza Lotnicza), commonly known asPoznań-Krzesiny Airport is aPolish Air Force base and military airport, located in Krzesiny, part of theNowe Miasto district ofPoznań.
The base was officially constituted on 31 December 2000, and since then has been the home base for the3rd Tactical Squadron. It was the first base to host PolishF-16 fighters.[1]
In 1941, during its occupation ofPoznań,Nazi Germany built an aircraft factory at Krzesiny (German:Luftwaffenfliegerhorst Kreising), along with an airfield to service it. The factory, run byFocke-Wulf, was a target for Allied bombers in the course of the war, on 29 May 1944 forEighth Air Force. On 22 January 1945 the airfield was captured byRed Army and taken over by theRed Army Air Force. In mid-1945 the 113th Bomber Aviation Division of the6th Bomber Aviation Corps of the16th Air Army was reported here.[2] In 1954 the Soviets transferred the base to the CommunistPolish People's Army. Since then the base has hosted various units under changing designations:
The organisation as an air base was implemented on 31 December 2000 to conform withNATO practices, separating the air base from the units which are based there. On this date 3rd Fighter Regiment was split into 31st Air Base (31. Baza Lotnicza) and 3rd Tactical Squadron (3. Eskadra Lotnictwa Taktycznego).
On 1 April 200831st Air Base was again joined with 3rd Tactical Squadron and 6th Tactical Squadron to form single unit named31st Tactical Air Base.
Poznań–Krzesiny Airport has been confused bypilots withPoznań–Ławica Airport, which also has a 2,500 m (8,200 ft) runway. The runways are at approximately the same orientation: Ławica's is 11/29 (true heading: 108/288) and Krzesiny's is 12/30 (true heading: 117.9/297.9). The two runways lie in a nearly straight line, with Krzesiny coming up first on approaches from the east, the ones used most often. On the other hand, the Krzesiny airbase lies southeast from the city centre, while Poznań–Ławica lies just west of it. Krzesiny had a second runway, but at an unknown date this second runway that crosses runway 12/30 was closed, as in satellite images it is marked with large white X marks.
One notable incident involving confusion between Ławica and Krzesiny happened on August 15, 2006. ASky AirlinesBoeing 737-800 operating flight SKY335 mistook the runway at Krzesiny for the one being used at Ławica. The crew didn't realise their error until later, when they took off to reposition the jet to the main airport.[3]
According to Krzysztof Krawcewicz, a pilot and theeditor-in-chief of the Polish monthlyPrzegląd Lotniczy/Aviation Revue, this was at least the seventh aircraft that mistakenly landed at Poznań–Krzesiny in 2006 alone. He blamed, amongst other things, the "scandalous procedures which are in use by theair traffic control at Poznań–Ławica" and the lack ofradar use in controlling aircraft landing, which exists, but had been turned off by the Polish Air Traffic Agency (Agencja Ruchu Lotniczego).[4]
Media related to31st Air Base in Poznań at Wikimedia Commons
52°19′49″N16°57′56″E / 52.33041°N 16.96563°E /52.33041; 16.96563
