Jueterborg

51°59'46"N 012°59'02"E

Runway 10/28 - 2600x50m - concrete (until 1993 - CLOSED)
Runway 09/27 - 1600x50m - concrete

Airfield Jueterborg (german: Flugplatz Juterborg, Flugplatz Altes Lager or Flugplatz Jueterborg-Damm) is a Special airfield (german: Sonderlandeplatz) in Brandenburg, Germany.

Construction of the airfield began in 1916 with the construction of two airship hangars called 'Albrecht' and 'Bur' (Bear).
By 1917 this had grown to ten hangars, radio shacks and officers quarters.
In the eraly 1920s the airfield had to be completely demilitarised as a result of the Versailes Treaty.
The hangars were taken down and rebuilt in Kasumigaura in Japan.
The field itself became for agricultural use.


Around 1933 the military renewed their interest in the former airfield.
In 1935 they not only began to rebuild but also enlarge the airfield.
At the airfield the banner flying squadron "Middle Germany" was based, with later emerged to be the core of Fighter Wing 132 Richthofen.
Between 1937 and 1941 the airfield was known as Flughafenbereich 5/III Damm.
In 1938 units of Attack Wing (Kampfgeschader) 253 "General Wever" were based at the aifield.
Between August 1940 and March 1942 the Pilot Training School (Flugzeugfuhrerschule) AB119 used the airfiled too.
By wars end the airfield had many aircraft standing in the parkings, but was severely short on fuel and pilots.
By that time the airfield had 500 Luftwaffe and 250 civilian personnel and a size of about 143 hectares.


After the war the Red Army took over the airfield.
They stationed the 833 Soviet Fighter Regiment (833 IAP) of the 16th Air Army of the Western Group of the Soviet Army at the airfield.
From 1966 until 1984-85 they flew the MiG-21 Fishbed.
The Fishbeds were followed up by the MiG-23 Flogger from 1984 onwards.
The Russians finally left in 1994.





Airfield Jueterborg was much larger than just the airfield.
Shown in Red is the Altes Lager (Old Camp) logistics site.
shown in Blue is the Neues Lager (New Camp).
shown in yellow is the actual airfield, and in green the ammunitions storage (Google Earth)





Airfield Jueterborg in 2003 (Google Earth)


A somewhat smaller copy of the Juterborg airfield can be found on the ranges of Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, USA.
One of the Juterborg features was the large number of helicopter and fighter aircraft dispersals on the south side of the airfield.
After the Russians left some of the runways and a major portion (about 550 meters) of the runway was removed, leaving a much shortened runway.
This runway is now being used by Ultralight aircraft and delta gliders.
For this purpose the airfield has been marked as a Special Airfield (german: Sonderlandeplatz).
One of the platforms and the adjacent hangar (with control tower) have been converted into a go-kart center.





Delta flying (German: Drachenflug) at Altes Lager showing the situation at the airfield in Sep 2010,
by Markus Loebus on Vimeo.