Budweis - České Budějovice

48°56'56N 014°25'41"E

Runway: 09/27 - 2500x45m - concrete

Air field Ceske Budejovice (Czech: letiště České Budějovice, also known as Plana airbase, Budweis airbase and Flugplatz Budweis, ICAO: (until 2000) LKPD, (from 2000) LKCS) is an airfield  125 kilometers south of Prague.
Built near Planá with the objective to serve as a base for the Jihočeský Aeroklub, it was officially taken into service on 27 June 1937. Soon the civilian airfield became one of the bases for the "Aktion Tisíc pilotů republice" (Thousand Republican Pilots Action). During the mobilisation of 1938 the airfield became a base for Avia B-534 interceptors and Letov Š-328 light bombers  of the 1. Air Regiment "Prag-Kbely".


Prewar hangar of the Budvar aeroklub (airport official homepage)

During the German occupation, the airfield served as a backup base of the 8. Jagdfliegerdivision and as a flight school. Pilots received their taining on front line fighters, including the Me262 jet fighter. From the summer of 1944 the airfield was attacked serveral times by Allied bombers, destroying both infrastructure and aircraft.

After the war, on 22 September 1945, Budweis/Plana became the home of 312 (Czechoslovak) Sqn. The unit brought home a full complement of twenty-two factory-new Spitfires LF Mk. IX. Their arrival attracted a huge crowd, eager to greet the national heroes, in exile from their occupied country since 1938-1939. It was a joyful and touching moment. 312 Squadron was incorporated into the reborn Czechoslovak Air Force, later becoming the nucleus of 4th and 5th air regiments with its A and B flights respectively.
1947 saw the return of twice daily scheduled airline flights to Prague by the Czechoslovak airline. 
An interesting episode (in April 1948) was the establishment of a training facility for fighters as part of 5th Air Wing, 2nd Training Flight. This was officially marked with the code DI (Confidential – Israel) and unofficially refereed to as the “Hagana period” (from Hebrew language – Haganah = selfdefense). Its name came from the fact that Israeli airmen were members of the air service of Haganah. The flight was established within the frame of military assistance to Israel and so former aviation veterans were retrained to Avia S-199 aircraft in Planá. The later Israeli president E. Weizman was one of the flight team members. Important part of the agreement was the delivery of 25 S-199 (Czech built Bf109) and 50 S-89 (Spitfire Mk IX E) aircraft including other military material.


312 (Czechoslovak) Sqn returns home with 22 brand new Spitfires in September 1945 after 6 years of service with the RAF (spitfiresite)

In 1950 the Czechoslovak Air Force was reorganised after Soviet models. As a result, the airfield was completely remodelled in 1952 and equipped with new Soviet military technology. Between 1952 and 1994 the airfield was home to the First Fighter Air Regiment "Zvolenský". Around 1990 they operated L-39ZA trainers and MiG-23MF 'Floggers'. From the middle of the 1990s until 2005 the withdrawal of military units from the base took place. The last millitary left the base in December 2005. 
Jihočeské letiště České Budějovice a.s., a company set up by the South Bohemian region and the city of České Budějovice. Since 19 March 2008 they hold a licence to operate a private international airfield.
40 Million Euros, were earmarked to convert the airfield into an airfield capable of handling Boeing 737 and Airbus A-320. A terminal building capable of handling 600,000 passengers and a new surface for the runway and taxiways were planned. However: in 2012 the EU withdrew its promised 15 Million Euros. Plans were revised to 24 Million Euros to complete the project, albeit far less ambitious, by 2015.


České Budějovice Airport in 2008 (Google Earth) 


New airport tower at České Budějovice Airport in October 2010 (Jitka Erbenová, via Wikimedia)


České Budějovice Airport, 29 April 2012 (Google Earth)