Cheb Horni Dvori

50°03'58"N 012°24'41"E

runway: 05/23 - 1400x53m - concrete (CLOSED)
runway: 05/23 - 1000x25m - grass

Air field Cheb (Czech: Letiště Cheb, German: Flugplatz Eger-Oberschön, ICAO: LKCB) is a small airfield just outside Cheb in the Czech Republic.
The airfield was built in 1940 by the German company Eger Flugzeugwerke GmbH in what was then the German Sudetenland. The airfield received both a concrete and a grass runway. Eger Flugzeugwerke GmbH licence produced and repaired He-111, He-177, He219, Ar-232 and Me-262 aircraft here, but the airfield also saw occasional use by other Luftwaffe types. The production program began with the He-111, which was produced here until early in 1943. The latest produced version was the He-111H-23 for Slovakia, a German puppet state.


He-111 production at Flugzeugwerke Eger GmbH (fronta.cz).

Another type was the He177 Greif strategic bomber, produced here in the A1, A3 and A5 versions. Shortly thereafter Eger began producing the He-219 Uhu night-fighter. An advanced design, it featured a radar and an ejection seat. The final Cheb-built aircraft was the Me-262 Schwalbe fighter jet. Chebs specialty was the photoreconnaissance version A1a/U3, but they also built the 'classic' A1a fighter. Eger Flugzeugwerke GmbH did some special work too; it prepared the four-engine He177 B-5 for its non stop Cheb to Japan flight. In Japan the 12,000kilometer-range bomber was to be built under licence, but just before it was to leave an American air strike destroyed it.
Another oddity occurred on 3 February 1944, when an American B-25 Liberator of 453BG (Heavy) landed at the airfield after having been damaged by flak on a sortie over France. The crew was imprisoned, but the bomber was repaired and handed over to the famous KG-200 at Rechlin. The aircraft remained in the hands of KG-200 until the fall of Salzburg to US forces.
On 14 February, 25 March, and 8 and 10 April 1945, close to the end of the war, Cheb was severely bombed, and the airfield did not escape damage. The damage was not enough to stop the repair work though.


Aerial photo showing the massive destruction at Eger Flugzeugwerke (source).


Aircraft parkings with the wrecks of He-219 night-fighters and fuselages of Me-262 fighters in 1945 (fronta.cz).


The compass calibration table with the burnt out hulk of a He-177. This part of the airfield still exists today although the calibration table was completely destroyed in April 1945 (fronta.cz).

The airfield fell to the US Army in late April 1945. By July they transferred the airfield to the Red Army, and withdrew to Bavaria (Germany). After the war the airfield was repaired and an aeroclub set up at the airfield. The Czechoslovakian Ministry of Transport outfitted airfields with the necessary technology, built a terminal and tower, and other necessary equipment. Cheb was to serve as an international airport, with the possibility to handle diverting international flights to Czechoslovakia.
Events took another direction though: shortly before opening the international airport the airfield was occupied by the army in the spring of 1952.
They ousted all civilian traffic and established a Yak-23 air base. The Yaks remained at the airfield until the summer of 1953.


A glider in front of one of the damaged Eger Hangars (letistecheb.cz).


Czechoslovak S-101 (Yak-23 'Flora') at Cheb (letistecheb.cz).

After that the airfield remained under military control, but it was rarely used by aircraft, likely because of the close proximity to the German border. The airfield did not reactivate until the late 1980s, initially only by An-2 aircrat, but after the Velvet Revolution of 1989 it really opened. The ABAS company was founded, developing and producing ultralight sports aircraft. Additionally the Cheb Ultralight Club established in 1997. In 2005 the airfield was recognised as a historical asset by the town of Cheb.
Officially Cheb regards the airfield as the oldest airfield in the country, dating back to 1916. This is not entirely true however, as the date really belongs to the original Cheb airfield, about 1.6 kilometers/1 mile to the north, described here. The Eger Flugzeugwerke do not exist anymore, their buildings were demolished and replaced with industry. Its concrete runway and parkings remain, although the concrete runway is no longer in use. Instead, aircraft land on a grass strip directly south of the concrete runway, then cross it to taxi on the north side.
In 2006 a book was published containing 300 historical photos of Cheb airfield, for more information contact Ludek Matejicek.


Cheb VFR approach map (2011) (letistecheb.cz).


Cheb aerial view in 2003 (Google Earth).

(History mainly sourced from fronta.cz)