Müritz Airpark | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Entwicklungs-und Betriebsgesellschaft Müritzflugplatz Rechlin-Lärz mbH | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Rechlin,Germany | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 220 ft / 67 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 53°18′23″N012°45′11″E / 53.30639°N 12.75306°E /53.30639; 12.75306 | ||||||||||||||
| Website | mueritz-airpark.de | ||||||||||||||
 Interactive map of Müritz Airpark | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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Müritz Airpark (IATA:REB,ICAO:EDAX), previously known asRechlin–Lärz Airfield) is anairfield in the village ofRechlin,Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania,Germany.
The airport was once part of theThird Reich era'sLuftwaffe main testing ground, orErprobungsstelle for new aircraft designs, which was centered on two large turf areas some 4.5 km (2.8 mi) due north (at53°20′48.11″N12°44′23.25″E / 53.3466972°N 12.7397917°E /53.3466972; 12.7397917) of the 21st century era paved-runway airport facility.
The modern airport is not used for scheduled traffic but is still open for general aviation. It is also home to other leisure activities such as theFusion Festival.
Construction of an airfield at Rechlin started in 1916, and it was officially opened on 29 August 1918. After the end ofWorld War I, the airfield was closed again and many of its installations dismantled.
During the 1920s, the airfield was reopened as a civilian airbase, but was soon back in use as a testing ground for secret German air force experiments under theTreaty of Rapallo. The site was probably chosen for its remote location in an almost uninhabited area.
On February 26, 1936, on the order of WehrmachtGeneralfeldmarschallWerner von Blomberg, the Rechlin airfield was designated as the official central testing ground (Erprobungsstelle orE-Stelle) of the Luftwaffe.
The facility took the form of a typical pre-World War IIaerodrome, with no clearly defined "runways", being bounded bya roughly hexagonal-layout perimeter road defining an area approximately 1,700 meters (5,600 feet) across within it of about 234.3 hectares, or 578.9 acres. This perimeter road still exists.
The turf-surfaced site was expanded by constructing two more airfields: a second, smaller turf-surfaced field just east of the main site in nearbyRoggentin and just south of the main site atLärz, the latter of which became the modern airfield. Construction work on the airfields and the accompanying barracks was partly carried out by forced labor from nearbyconcentration campRavensbrück.
Many of the Luftwaffe's new combat aircraft prototypes were test flown from Reclin's main turf-field facilities.
The special operations combat wing of the Luftwaffe,KG 200, with its array of captured planes also used the airfields. However, after several Allied attacks on the primary turf-surfaced airfield, and the satellite Roggentin airfield in 1944, testing of late-war planes was shifted to the other satellite airfield at Lärz.
TheRechlin data sheets on Luftwaffe and capturedAllied aircraft are considered by many aviation historians to be among the most reliable sources for aircraft performance data from theWorld War II era.
On April 10, 1945, a final bomber attack by 11 B-17s and 159 B-24s of the USEighth Air Force, which was targeting airfields used by German jet fighters, almost completely destroyed the airfields.[1] What was left was blown up by the German garrison before Soviet troops arrived at Rechlin on May 2.
From 1946, theSoviet Air Force had an airbase at Rechlin. The 19th Guards fighter-bomber regiment of the16th Air Army and a helicopter squadron were stationed at Lärz, and the airfield at Rechlin was used by theNational People's Army (NVA).[2]
InWest German, Rechlin's role was taken over by theBundeswehr military aviation installation atManching, as Rechlin was well inside the borders ofEast Germany.
Military usage of the airfields continued until 1993, when the last Russian air force units returned to Russia. The airfield was reopened for civilian use in 1994, and today is also the site of the annualFusion music festival.
Media related toRechlin-Lärz Airfield at Wikimedia Commons
Authority control databases: Geographic |
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