Kamp (Fliegerhorst)

54°08'40"N 015°20'07"E

Flying field - 1200x900meters (estimated) - grass

Kamp airfield (German: Fliegerhorst Kamp, Polish: Lotnisko Rogowo) was an airfield 430 kilometers northwest of Warsaw.
The airfield was built by the Luftwaffe between 1935 and 1937 in what was then German Pommerania.
Before 1935 Kamp was a small fishing community, a part of the Deep municipality in Greifenberg (Polish: Gryfice), located west of Kolberg (Polish: Kolobrzeg). By the time the fliegerhorst and the adjacent seeflugstation were completed, it had become a restricted military area. The terrain was not on any map and camouflaged to lool like a peaceful village near the sea.
In 1938 a Küstenfliegergruppe (Coastal Flying Group) was set up at the nearby Seeflugstation, but they soon converted to the land based Do-17. In August 1939 the Dorniers took part in the Poland Campaign and they returned to Kamp in October 1939. The unit left again for the France Campaign in 1940.
What happened next at the airfield is not entirely clear; likely it played a role in transport and liaison flights. What is known is that 3./Fl.Erg.Gr.(See) was reformed on 25 June 1941 in Kamp with Ju-88A. It became attached to KGr.506 on 9 September 1941, and was redesignated Erg.Sta./KGr.506 on 15 September 1941.


Map based on a 1945 Allied intelligence photo of the airfield.

The Fliegerhorst played a major role in the final weeks of Nazi-Germany. As more and more people were trying to flee the Soviet Army, it became a major hub for Luftwaffe aircraft ferrying civilians (many of them children) to the west. Junkers Ju-52/3m and Ju-90s were seen flying many to relative safety. Accidents were bound to happen though: a Ju-52/3m crashed in the shallow Kamper See (Lake Kamp) on take off. In spite of Soviet artillery barrages several attempts were made to salvage the aircraft, but to no avail.
By the end of 3 May 1945 the base was firmly under control of Soviet Forces.

Several attempts were alledgedly made to salvage the cargo of the crashed Ju-52/3m after the war. Ultimately a collection of silver was taken from the submerged aircraft. 
As agreed by the Allies in Potsdam, after the war the region became part of Poland. The remaining original German inhabitants were expelled to Germany in 1947.

During the Cold War the base was home to a Polish Air Defense Artillery regiment (75 Pułk Artylerii Przeciwlotniczej). Since the disbandment of the regiment in 1998, the village has gradually been taken back by civilians.


Polish soldiers at the airfield sometime in the 1960s (odkrywca.pl).

One of the hangars is now home to a small museum dedicated to the airfields history. Among it's inventory are a Su-22 Fitter, a MiG-17, a TS-11 Iskra and a PZL-Mielec I-22 Iryda jet trainer, which briefly saw service with the Polish air Force in the 1990s.


Former Fliegerhorst Kamp in 2004 (Google Earth)


Kamp in 2012 (Google Earth)