Olawa

50°58'43"N 017°14'51"E

runway: 13/31 - 2500m/8202ft - grass

Olawa air field (german: Fliegerhorst Ohlau/Schlesien) was an airfield 295 southwest of Warsaw, Poland.
The airfield was built in 1939 as a Luftwaffe airfield (Einsatzhafen I. Ordnung) in what was then German territory. It had a grass flying field and hardened platforms in front of the hangars.

During the war it was used amongst others by:
Kampfgeschwader 55 'Greif', flying He-111 in 1939.
Nachtjagdgeschwader (Night Fighter Wing) 102, flying Bf-110 and Ju-88 between July 1944 and January 1945.
5/1 Hungarian Night Fighter Squadron, training on the Bf-110G4 between September 1944 and January 1945.
Ohlau fell to the Red Army around 23 January 1945.


Fliegerhorst Ohlau/Schlesien sometime during World War II

When the war was over, Ohlau was ceded to Poland and renamed Olawa. Olawa became a garrisson of the Red Army Northern group. The airport was relegated to a secondary (emergency) role.
At some time, it received a 2500m grass runway. The Soviets only used it with helicopters and piston driven aircraft of the 4th Army Aviation Group.

The Soviet Army departed on 15 October 1992. Since then the airfield has been closed and the property redeveloped. A factory was built on the grass runway, and the west side of the airfield became a residential area. In aerial photography of 2010 some foundations of hangars and taxiways were still recognisable.


Olawa airfield in 2010, with very little of the former airfield remaining (Google Earth)