Žatec

50°22'13"N 013°35'34"E

Runway: 28/10 - 2500 x 80m - concrete
Runway: 26/08 - 1400 x 20m - concrete

Žatec airfield (Czech: letiště Žatec or Žatec-Staňkovice, also known as Fliegerhorst Saaz, ICAO: LKZC) was an airfield 65kilometers northwest of Prague.
The airfield was originally built by the Luftwaffe in 1944 with one concrete runway measuring 1700x60m. It became the homebase for the worlds first operational jet fighter group: JG7 with Me-262 jet fighters.  On the very last day of WWII (8 May 1945) at 15:20,  I./JG 7 'Nowotny' Me-262 pilot Oberleutnant Fritz Stehle (2.Staffel) took off with his wingman and at 16:00 shot down a Soviet jet fighter Yak–9. The engangement, which occurred over Freiberg, was the last aerial battle of World War II in Europe, and Stehle's victory may very well be the last aerial victory by a German fighter pilot in World War II.
Still during the afternoon hours of 8 May 1945, all Me-262s capable of flying took off and headed west to parts of Germany that were occupied by the western allies to avoid being captured by Soviets. It is believed all of them landed on Kaltenkirchen (unknown), Munich-Riem (2), Luneburg (1) and Faßberg (1). A large amount of non-flyable, damaged or wrecked Luftwaffe planes of many types (including Me-262s) remained at the arfield.

By the end of WWII there were only two airfields to have concrete runways in Czechoslovakia. The first one was Prague–Ruzyně civilian airport, during WWII also used by Luftwaffe’s Me-262s.  The second airfield with a concrete runway was Žatec. Czechoslovak authorities started to remove the wrecks from the field.
Efforts to save and repair ex-Luftwaffe aircraft were started as well. The post-war Czechoslovak AF desparately needed any aircraft capable of flying to defend the country and to provide air training to new pilots. Having a long tradition of aviation industry in pre-war Czechoslovakia, Prague–Letňany based company Avia set up a branch office for aircraft and engine development office at Žatec. It bagan testing German Me-262 jet engines that remained at the field in large numbers. Avia personnel also made efforts to get Me-262s to the skies again – and they were succesful. On 27 August 1946 the first one of a number of rebuilt Me-262s made its first flight. All rebuilt Me-262s received new Czechoslovak AF nomenclature, so from then on all Me-262s were called Avia S-92 (single seater, S standing for "stíhací"-fighter) and Avia CS-92 (two seater, "cvičný stíhací" – trainer-fighter).
The very first Avia S-92 used for flight testing was called S-92.1. This aircraft crashed near the airfield during its 6th test flight on the 5th September 1946. Despite this accident, test flights continued succesfully with an uncertain amount of S-92s and CS-92s (allegdedly 10 airframes in total) in the following months.

Together with Avia aircraft factory the newly established Military flight institute ( Vojenský letecký ústav – VLÚ) started its presence at the field in 1946. This moment is generally considered to be the beginning of the Czechoslovak Air Force presence on the field which was to last almost 50 years. The Czechoslovak AF began to increase its presence at the field by building a permanent military unit starting with 31 soldiers and officers.
After the armed Czechoslovak Communist party coup on 25 February 1948 and with the start of Cold War, the field received the highest priority within existing military bases in Cezchoslovakia. From 1 October 1949 the base received new code name – Military Unit 9398 (Vojenský útvar 9398, or VÚ 9398) and the callsign "Merkur" (Mercury). The field was being largely reconstructed and upgraded (new underground fuel tanks, baracks for soldiers, ATC tower, new wooden hangars). As such, Žatec became the most modern and most important Czechoslovak air base.

In the turbulent post-war era of 1948, the new Czechoslovak communist government tried to help the newly established state of Israel to build its new armed forces and air force.  Between 19 May 1948 and 12 August 1948, the Czechoslovak government provided -free of charge- 24 Avia S-199 (Czechoslovak copy/modified version of Bf-190G built in Avia Prague) to the Israeli AF. All aircraft were brand new and after essential flight tests were made, all were dismantled and transported by train to Žatec airfield. From Žatec airfield all S-199s, together with tons of spare parts, tools, guns and ammunition (including bombs, mines, guns, etc. for ground support) were transported to Israel using their own C-46 Commandos, C-54D Skymasters and C-69 Constellations. One Connie crashed on the field on 13 July 1948 during landing. Additionaly, a total of 50 ex-RAF Spitfires, now called Avia S-89, from the Czechoslovak AF were given to Israel as well, but the transfers of these planes were conducted from another Czechoslovak airfield (Kunovice). On 12 August 1948 the military assistance to Israel officially ended and no more military equipment was shipped to Israel after this date. Czechoslovakia continued to provide training to pilots, ground personnel, paratroops, etc. on a massive scale in the following months, however.

All flying S-92 and CS-92s based on the field were officially listed under Military Flight Institute (VLÚ), not under Czechoslovak AF although they were planned to become its pride very soon.  A new jet aircraft unit was established under VLÚ to provide AF pilots with flight training. Two s-92s and two CS-92s were used for training at Žatec.
As a result of the first Cold War conflict (Korea) and as in all communist countries, Soviet authorities started to push Cezchoslovak government to initiate building powerfull armed forces in anticipation of possible war in Europe.  Czechoslovak Ministry of Defence ordererd a brand new concrete runway on Žatec field to be built. It was completed in autumn 1951 and measured 2500x80m. It did not become the home base of the first Czechoslovak jet fighters though. That honour went to the brand new air base in Milovice with its 2500x80m runway.
On 1 June 1951 new Air Force jet training center (Proudové Výcvikové Centrum Letectva) was established at Milovice airfield as the first air force jet training unit.  Military training institute (VLÚ) moved back to its home at Prague–Kbely field and since that moment all military pilots training programs were maintained by AF themself.
10 Yak-23s were intensively used for air training (despite the existence of only single seater versions) and became officially the first Czechoslovak jet fighters. They were assigned to newly established 11th Fighter regiment (11. Stíhací letecký pluk, 11. SLP). 11.SLP was intended to move to newly reconstructed Žatec airfield with its new runway as soon as possible. This moment came in December 1951 and 11.SLP became fully operational by the begining of 1952.
Yak-23s were not flying for very long time due to the fact that brand new and much more powerfull and modern MiG-15s started to be delivered to Czechoslovakia from the end of 1951 in large numbers.


The airfield in 1952. 6 swept wing fighter types, probably MiG-15s, can be seen parked in front of the black hangar building. To zoom in on the airfield, go to kontaminace.cenia.cz (Google translation) 



Drawing of the runway system and barracks buildings ca. 1954. The 1700x60m so-called "German" runway (RWY, or in czech: VPD) is visible on the north side of the runway (valka.cz)


Overview of the air base and its three clusters of dispersals. The straight taxiway from RP c.3 to runway 09 is actually the emergency runway 26/08 (valka.cz)

11.SLP remained the only AF unit on Žatec, having been equipped over the years with Yak-23s, MiG-15s, -17s, -19s, -21s, -23s and also with Aero L-29 Delfin and L-39 Albatros trainers/light combat aircraft plus some helicopters and small piston basic-training aircraft. In 1989 Žatec became the first and only home base of newly arrived MiG-29s.
They arrived in total of 18 single seaters (29A) and two two-seaters (29UB). All -29s stayed at Žatec till the end of 11.SLP on the 31st December 1993.


In 1993, Žatec hosted an airshow, showing off the many different types the Czechoslovak Air Force posessed. On 31 December of that year Czechoslovakia and its Air Force seized to exist when it broke up into two seperate countries: Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

At the breakup, the MiG-29s were split evenly between the two new states. Realising the aircraft were expensive to maintain, the Czech government decided to sell its Fulcrums to Poland and left without an operational unit, Žatec  was closed. 
In 2002 the authorities decided to break up and completely remove all hardened shelters, the runway, taxiways, maintenance hangars, all buildings and airfield support  and utility facilities. At the same time a clean-up of years of environmental damage was performed. Whole areas of soil and ground water was contaminated with oil products, which had to be removed. The process was completed in 2006 and the construction of the first plants began that same year.


The airfield in the summer of 2006, when most of the buildings had been cleared. Clearly visible is the old main runway, the light coloured straight line running towards it was the taxitrack from the dispersal area in the foreground which doubled as an emergency runway (laazatec.cz).

Of the old airfield infrastructure, parts of the runways and taxiways still remain. The former main entrance also still exists. All the hangars and Hardened Aircraft Shelters were removed. Industrial zone "Triangle", with a few factories of IPS Alpha Technology Europe and Hitachi Home Electronics, has been built on the location of the former Zatec Air Base. The southwesterly dispersal area now holds a solar power plant.


The former airbase in 2012. While parts of the airfield are still recognisable, it is very clear that aircraft will never land at this location again (CzechInvest.org)