Dresden-gliderfield

51°03'37"N 013°47'24"E

runway: 00/00 - 0000x00m - grass

Dresden's glider airfield (german: Dresden segelflugplatz) was a glider airfield on the south bank of the Elbe river in Dresden. 
The airfield was built in 1952 after the Allies partially lifted the flying ban imposed on Germany after World War II. The first launch of gliders took place on the occasion of the Pioneer Meet of 1952. The demand for gliding lessons had been gradually increasing, so the search for a suitable launching location was on. It was decided to use the location of the 1952 Pioneer meet. The site was approved, and it's first use was on 1 May 1953.

No hangars were present on the site, so gliders were stored in the city. On average the site saw 1500 starts a year. 
In 1979 all flying came to an abrupt end. In the German Democratic Republic (former East-Germany, known in German as the Deutsche Demokratische Republik or DDR) all recreational flying fell under the umbrella of the Association for Sport and Technology (german: Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik), GST for short. That year the new head of the GST declared that all airfields within flying distance of a border with West-Germany were to be closed. It was feared that GST aircraft would be used to flee the DDR by air.
Today the field is just a field on the banks of the Elbe river. Nothing reminds of the former airfield.


The gliderfield in 2003 (Google Earth)