Aspern

48°14'00"N 016°31'00"E

runway: 09/27 - 760x54m - concrete
runway: 13/31 - 1200x74m - concrete
runway: 18/36 - 700x54m - concrete

Aspern airfield (Flughafen Aspern or Flughafen Vienna-Asperen, ICAO: LOAM) was an airfield on the eastern outskirst of Vienna.
The airfield opened as early as 23 June 1912 as the largest and most modern airport in Europe. During an airshow in 1914 no less than 4 world records were set at the airfield, during flights going up to 5.440meters high.
Civilian flights were prohibited after the murder of Throne heir Franz-Ferdinand in 1914. The airport was immediately pressed into military service.


On 23 June 1912 the airfield was officially opened with an international air meet. It attracted 50,000 viewers and as many guests. As many as 6,000 cars were counted at was considered to be the epicenter of European aviation (wien-vienna.at)


Aspern viewed heading east, ca. 1914 (wien-vienna.at).

The Aviatik aircraft company built its aircraft here, which were testflown here and then despatched to the end-users. After World War I the airfield was ordered to be destroyed under the St. Germain Treaty. It reopened in 1920 however. During the Austrian civil war of 1934 the only airstrike was flown from here.


Undated, but believed to be early 1920 photos of the airfield (austrianwings.info)  


OELAG (Oesterreichische Luftverkehrs A.G.) F13 at Aspern in the mid 1920s.


KLM Fokker F.VII H-MFKA taking off from Aspern in the late 1920s (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek).

During the 'Anschluss' of 12 March 1938, German soldiers immediately pressed the airport into military service again. By the end of World War II the airfield was destroyed and plundered, what remained was confiscated by the Red Army.


Luftwaffe transports, partially with civilian registrations, at Vienna Aspern in March 1938 (wien-vienna.at)


Map of Aspern airfield during World War II (wien-vienna.at)

After the occupation ended the airfield was taken over by the Austrian Aero-Club (german: Österreichische Aero-Club). From 1956 the airfield was also used for car races, which lasted until March 1977. In October 1977 the airfield was permanently closed. The construction of a new second runway at Schwechat meant that the old airfield had become an obstruction in the approach ot the new runway.


Shortly before closing in 1977 a final fly in took place (austrianwings.info)


The airfield in the 1980s, with the GM plant in the left foreground (L*O*W*A).

General Motors Austria (later General Motors Powertrain - Austria) set up a new factory at the former airfield. The unused runways were used as a traffic school by the ARBÖ autoclub until 2008. Only one more time they were used for their original purpose: during an airshow in 1997, to commemorate the closure of the airfield 20 years earlier. Because of the weather the fly in was extended to the next weekend to allow as many people as possible to visit the airfield one more time.
A support unit of the ÖAMTC emergency helicopter organisation "Christophorus 9" was based at the eastern edge of the airfield until April 2004. In July 2009 the final breakup of the remaining runways began, to allow for the construction of a new city burrough. U-bahn 2 (Vienna subway line 2) was lengthened to the airfield first, requiring a new reversing point to be built at the airfield. The new part of the city willl ultimately be home to around 20,000 people.


The 18/36 runway was reactivated one more time during the 1997 commemorative fly-in (austrianwings.info)


Overview of Aspern in August 2004 (Google Earth)


Aspern in 2009, with construction of the U-bahn line 2 extension in progress (Google Earth)