Meiningen

50°34'10"N 010°26'50"E

runway: flying field - 600x400m - grass (CLOSED)

Air field Meiningen (german: Flugplatz Meiningen) was an airfield east of Meiningen in southern Thuringia, Germany
As early as 1913 it was decided by the city council to build a new airfield to replace the two airfields in use thusfar.
It took until 1921 however for the formation of the 'Luftfahrtvereinigung Meiningen' (Meiningen Aviation Society) to form.
The airfield ultimately opened for air traffic on 2 May 1927.
Shortly after the two other airfields closed.
The airfield was on the line Leipzig-Rudolstadt-Erfurt-Meiningen-Nürnberg (Nuremberg) and as such it was flown to twice daily.
The operator was the 'Nordbayerische Verkehrsflug GmbH Fürth', which used the all-metal Me18.
The service stopped in 1931 for economical reasons.
The airfield was visited by airships twice: LZ127 'Graf Zeppelin' landed from Friedrichghafen on 11 October 1931, a spectacle watched by 100,00 people.
LZ130 'Graf Zeppelin II', sistershiip of the LZ 129 'Hindenburg' followed on 2 July 1939, drawing 40,000 people to the airfield in spite of the rain.


Until World War II the airfield served as a recreational airfield, with occasional flying demonstrations and parajumping.
During the war it served as a reserve airfield (Einsatzhafen).
The Soviet occupation forces stopped all activity at the airfield which was in part returned to agricultural use.
In 1965 the East-German Border Troops (Grenztruppen der DDR) were activated.
They converted the airfield into a helicopter field for the southern chain of their flying service, protecting the DDR border.
Several buildings were constructed with 6 landing pads.
The airfield became home to helicopter squadron 16 (Hubschrauberstaffel-16, or HS16), flying Mi2 and Mi-8 helicopters.
It also frequently hosted visiting Mi-24 helicopters from the Kampfhubschraubergeschwader (Combat Helicopter Wing) 'Ferdinand von Schill' at Cottbus.
With the reunification of the two Germanies, the inner-German border was dissolved in 1990, and the unit disbanded.
The airfield was returned to the city of Meiningen.
Attempts to restart the airfield in the 1990s failed.
Currently plans for the airfield are to convert it for commercial purposes.





East German SM-1 (Polish-built Mil Mi-1 'Hare') in front of the tower at Meiningen, presumably around 1970 (nva-flieger.de).





Two fuel trucks in front of a windsock, the tower and helicopter pads of Meiningen, presumably in the early 1980s (nva-flieger.de).





Overview of the airfield in 2001 (Google Earth)

Ein 'Danke sehr' zu Bernd Drosdzol für sein Aufmerksamkeit!