Erding Air Base
Fliegerhorst Erding |
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IATA: none – ICAO: ETSE | |||
Summary | |||
Airport type | Military | ||
Owner | Unified Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Germany | ||
Operator | Luftwaffe (German Air Force) | ||
Location | Erding, Germany | ||
Elevation AMSL | 1,515 ft / 462 m | ||
Runways | |||
Direction | Length | Surface | |
m | ft | ||
08/26 | 2,521 | 8,271 | Asphalt |
Erding Air Base (German: Fliegerhorst Erding, ICAO: ETSE) is a German Air Force airfield near the town of Erding, about 45 kilometers (28 mi) northeast of central Munich in Bavaria. It is the home of the 5th Air Defense Missile Squadron and the 1st Air Force Maintenance Regiment.
The last public airshow at Erding was held during the summer of 1986.
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Prior to and during World War II, Erding was a Luftwaffe pilot training airfield. It was seized by the United States Army in April 1945 and used as a United States Air Force facility during the early years of the Cold War.
Erding was used as an Air Depot, Air Base and an Air Station. On 14 Dezember 1957, control of Erding Air Base was returned to the reconstituted West German Air Force as a front line facility where it hosted various F-104, Tornado and other fighter squadrons.
USAF Units stationed at Erding were:
Originally developed as an Air Depot in the early postwar years, the mission of Erding Air Base (later Station) was to provided depot-level maintenance of USAFE and NATO fighters. With the opening of Châteauroux-Déols Air Base, France in 1953, Erding became a satellite depot.
The mission of Erding Air Base was changed in 1956 to training German Air Force personnel into the newly reconstituted Luftwaffe and the base was turned over to the German Air Force on 1 April 1957.
With the creation of NATO in response to Cold War tensions in Europe, USAFE wanted its major air bases in West Germany moved west of the Rhine River to provide greater air defense warning time. The establishment of the new bases in the Rhineland-Palatinate diminished the USAF use of Erding. It became an air defense facility in 1956 with the assignment of the F-86D equipped 440th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, a detachment of the 86th Fighter-Interceptor Wing at Landstuhl Air Base until the arrival of the F-102 in Europe and budget cutbacks in 1960 forced its closure.
In 1966 with France withdrawing from NATO it left a gap in the air defense network of Europe. Operation Creek Ale filled that gap by rotating Convair F-102A Delta Dart interceptors from various squadrons of the 86th Air Division based at Ramstein Air Base. Squadrons from Soesterberg Air Base, Zaragoza Air Base, Hahn Air Base, Bitburg Air Base and Ramstein Air Base rotated to Erding for air defense alert.
With the deactivation of the 86th Air Division in 1970, the 52d Fighter Group was formed at Erding in 1971 with some of the F-102's on a permanent basis. In 1972 the F-102s were withdrawn from Europe and the 52d FG was deactivated.
Relegated to Air Station status, Erding hosted TDY units of CONUS based USAF aircraft though the 1980s for short-term deployments as part of the annual Reforger exercises.
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