Brandis (CLOSED)

51°19'42"N 012°39'30"E

Runway 08/26 - 2200x60m - concrete (CLOSED)

Airfield Brandis (german: Flugplatz Brandis, also known as Flugplatz Polenz, also known as Fliegerhorst Waldpolenz, ICAO: EDBN) was an airfield situated east of Leipzig, Saxony in Germany.
The airfield was built in 1934/1935 for a blind flying school, equipped with an 1800x80meter runway. Amongst others it was also used as a testing airfield for Junkers from Dessau, who tested the odd looking AS-6 at the airfield. Plans for a second runway and facilities for the rocket powered Me163 stationed at Brandis never materialised because of the end of the war.


Me163B (White 11) as piloted by Hptm Herbert Frömert of JG400 from Brandis on 15 Nov 1944 (© Uwe Frömert, taken from Rob de Bie's excellent work on the Me163).

The airfield was bombed by the USAAF several times in 1944 and 1945. When Task Force Collins of the US Army discovered the airfield on 17 April 1945 they captured it after a short battle. They found that the remainder of the airfield had been blown up by the Germans, and any aircraft left at the airfield had been blown up or torched.
After the capture, the airbase was occupied by the 60th Armored Infantry Battalion of the 9th US Armored Division and subsequently the 69th Infantry Division's 273rd Infantry Regiment. The airbase was inspected by intelligence, who reported amongst others 2 Ju 287's, 14 He 177, 33 Me 163's, 22 Me 110's and many more aircraft, all demolished or burnt out.

Brandis was handed over to Soviet control on 2 July 1945. In the years that followed damaged buildings were either rebuilt or taken down. MiG-15 fighters were stationed at the base from 1954, but they were later replaced with attack aircraft and helicopter units. Between 1955 and 1961 the airfield served as a reserve airfield. From 1960 onwards the infrastructure was renewed, the runway lengthened and new taxiways were built. In the 1970s a new maintenance hangar for helicopteres and living quarters were built.

In 1985/86 the air base underwent another upgrade, it received a new flightline and splitterboxes for the aircraft. After the German reunification the Russian air force withdrew the last remaining units from the base. Su-25s of 357OShAP (Attack Regiment) and Mi-8 and Mi-24 of 487 Helicopter Regiment left the airfield in April and May. The final cargo flights with An-12 and Il-76 left in August, after which the airfield was returned to the German government.


Airfield Brandis in 2000 (Google Earth)

From 1994 until 2005 the airfield was leased to one Mr. Kirch for use as a VFR airfield. He had plans to use the airfield for flying schools and sightseeing trips. Alledgedly he ran into trouble with local authorities from day one over noise abatement issues. A German pilot that used to know him described him as a friendly man who never made any problems about flying into the airfield after openig hours. Also, he did not overprice the services at the airfield. Appearantly his friendlyness towards pilots ended his business: being financially friendly to pilots meant he was ultimately unable to pay the municipality the lease.
As the pilot stated on a German website: "At the end of his wallet he had too many months (to pay) left, so by October 2005 the airport was closed overnight. It was cleared straight out, and all that was usable was destroyed. That closed the airfield - on my questions on the 'why?', the municipality simply said they were happy about it and that was it. The crazy situation was that a lot of people were willing and able to continue operating the airfield if they had known that Mr. Kirch had given up. It is a shame, much more could have been made of the airfield."
From late in 2005 the airfield was destined to become a solar energy park.


The runway at Brandis in 2006.

Although many believe the solar park and the airfield could have coexisted it was not to be. In 2007 Juwi GmbH began constructing the worlds largest solar energy park covering 110Hectares in order to produce 40MW of electricity. On 22 June the second stage of the array became operational, producing 24 MW. At that time it was the largest solar energy plant in the world.
The plant reached its peak capacity of 40 MW in 2009.


Brandis tower in June 2008.


Abandoned Soviet Schturmovic at Brandis in August 2008


Former Brandis airfield, now Solar Power Plant (Solarkraftwerk) Waldpolenz (source).


The former airbase Brandis in 2008 (Google Earth)