Flughafen Gießen (CLOSED)

50°35'30"N 008°43'38"E

Runway: Oval shaped - 1.100x750m - grass
field in front of the station building

Airport Giessen (German: Flugplatz Gießen) was Gießens first airfield, 385 kilometers southwest of Berlin.
It opened in July 1925, but the terrain has a richer aviation tradition than that date: the first airship landed here in the spring of 1911, and the first aircraft about three months later. In 1924 a sports flying event was held at the place.
From the official opening onwards, Luft Hansa operated a service from the airfield to Frankfurt and Kassel. The station building was opened in 1927. Hangars and other buildings began to appear from 1929.
In 1933 a beacon was built just off the airfield to facilitate nighttime navigation. Around the same time Giessen was militarised, and became home to a Combat Wing (Kampfgeschwader 55 "Greif"). The airfield was enlarged and more hangars were built in 1938. Other buildings were marked as commercial warehouses on building plans, masking their use as munitions storage.
Many bombs were carried from Giessen and at the end of 1944 many exploded at Giessen during World War II.


Station building of Flughaven Gießen 1935 (via USArmy Germany)

In 1945 the American forces took over the area and converted it into a depot for the USArmy. It had a small aviation unit just north of the former airfield. It became one of the largest facilities in Germany, with its own railway system and warehouses.
One of the enlisted soldiers that passed through Giessen was Elvis Presley.
The US Army finally withdrew from Giessen in 2008.


The old station building of Flughaven Gießen still existed in 2007.


Former flugplatz Giessen with Giessen AAF just to the north, ca 2000 (Google Earth).