Aachen Merzbrück Airfield

Aachen Merzbrück Airfield

*Flugplatz Aachen-Merzbrück*
Aachen Merzbrück Airfield; Flugplatz Aachen-Merzbrück
	IATA: AAH; ICAO: EDKA;
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Flugplatz Aachen-Merzbrück GmbH
Serves	Aachen, Germany
Location	Würselen
Elevation AMSL	623 ft / 190 m
Coordinates	50°49′24″N 006°11′11″E / 50.82333°N 6.18639°E
Website	flugplatz-aachen.de
Runways

Aachen Merzbrück Airfield (German: Flugplatz Aachen-Merzbrück) (IATA: AAH, ICAO: EDKA) is an airfield located near Aachen, Germany.^[1]

History

The airfield was built about 1914 as a grass airfield, and throughout the 1930s was used by small light aircraft. After the First World War in 1919, it was taken over by Belgium occupying power and used as a military airfield and expanded accordingly. In 1929, the Belgian soldiers withdrew and the airfield became a civilian airfield. In 1930, the airship, Graf Zeppelin landed and took off in Merzbrück as part of a sightseeing flight in the Rhineland.^[2] In 1931, a line connection to Cologne Butzweilerhof Airport was set up, which was operated with the Junkers G 24 until 1935. In 1935, the regular scheduled flight to Cologne was discontinued for economic reasons. In 1932, the world's largest airplane at that time, the Junkers G 38, landed in Merzbrück.

In World War II, Merzbrück was used by the Luftwaffe, with IV.(Stuka)/LG 1 and I./St.G. 77 of Lehrgeschwader 1, equipped with Junkers Ju 87s during the first week of the Battle of Belgium in May 1940. After the Battle of France in June ended, the airfield was little used by the military or general aviation.^[3]

In January 1945, as a result of the Western Allied invasion of Germany, United States Army forces moved through the Aachen area and captured Merzbrück Airport about 29 January. In February, combat engineers of the 818th Engineering Aviation Battalion arrived and laid down a 5000' Pierced Steel Planking metal runway down on the grass airfield aligned 05/23 for use by combat aircraft, and the airport was designated as Advanced Landing Ground "Y-46 Aachen".^[4] The Americans used the airport for P-47 Thunderbolt combat operations until the middle of April 1945, and the airport was closed on 11 May 1945.^[5]^[6]

After the war, the airfield was used by the British Forces in Germany and later by the Belgian Forces in Germany. Subsequently, the airfield was rebuilt with an all-weather asphalt runway, taxiways, and both concrete and grass aircraft parking areas. A parallel grass runway is also available.

Usage

There is no scheduled traffic at the airfield. It primarily is used by general aviation, and also has a large sailplane facility. The ADAC air rescue service provides the air rescue helicopter Christoph Europa 1 for urgent medical rescues and air ambulance duties here. A flight school and maintenance facility (Westflug Aachen) is located here since 1967.^[7]

References

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

^ Accident history for AAH / EDKA - Merzbruck Airport at Aviation Safety Network
^ "Graf Zeppelin auf Stippvisite". Archived from the original on 2011-12-27. Retrieved 2021-02-27.
^ The Luftwaffe, 1933-45
^ "IX Engineer Command ETO Airfields, Airfield Layout". Archived from the original on 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
^ Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
^ Johnson, David C. (1988), U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO), D-Day to V-E Day; Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.
^ "Website: History of Westflug". Archived from the original on 2018-03-11. Retrieved 2018-03-11.