Flugplatz Alt Daber
THE ABANDONED MILITARY AIRFIELD IN GERMANY
This is Flugplatz Alt Daber, also known as Fliegerhorst Wittstock, it is an abandoned military air base located in north-western Brandenburg in Germany. Eventually, its use as an airport ended in 1994.
The area served as a glider airfield from 1934. Expansion of the site to house a paratrooper school took place from 1938 to 1940, training began in 1939. Later, the Luftwaffe also used the site for training. In the autumn of 1944, the first operational units came to Wittstock. In fact, from here, Nazi Germany fought against the Soviet Army.
After the last German aircraft had left as a result of the capitulation at the end of the Second World War, the Red Army occupied the site on 3 May 1945.
Soviet Headquarter
The runways until now were made of grass. It was not until 1952 that the Soviet troops built an almost 2.5 kilometer long paved runway. The Soviets also added a radar site close-by in Biesen and a surface-to-air missile site near Wernikow. As a result, Wittstock became the headquarters of the Soviet Northern Fighter Corps and a total of 38 MiG-15 planes were stationed at the airfield. From 1961, the attached air regiments included the 33 IAP Jagdfliegerregiment, equipped with MiG-29 fighters. The Russian radio call sign for the airfield was Газовый or Gas.
Eventually, the complex was shut down with the withdrawal of Soviet troops in June 1994. The area, especially the runways, then temporarily served as a racetrack, and it was used for various events. In 2011 the Alt Daber solar park was built, covering a big part of the old site. Many buildings were demolished in 2018. I visited Flugplatz Alt Daber in 2020 and 2022. Follow this link for more abandoned military sites.
