Eschborn Airfield

Geschichte

Eschborn Airfield is an abandoned military airfield in Germany located approximately 10 km northwest of Frankfurt am Main and 435 km southwest of Berlin.The airfield was built by the Luftwaffe and opened in the early 1940s. Its primary use was as an interceptor fighter airfield during the Defense of the Reich campaign. In 1945 it was seized by the United States Army and was used as a combat airfield by Ninth Air Force during the Western Allied invasion of Germany.After the war the airfield became part of "Camp Eschborn", one of the United States Army facilities in the Frankfurt Area. It was closed in 1992 as part of the drawdown of American forces in Europe after the Cold War ended. Today the area is being redeveloped as an industrial site.HistoryGerman use during World War IIEschborn Airfield was built by the Luftwaffe about 1942 to provide air defense of the Frankfurt am Main area from Allied bomber attacks. A 1,600m concrete runway, aligned 12/30 was laid down, along with taxiways, dispersal aircraft hardstands, a support area and other buildings.Jagdgeschwader 106 (JG 106), a Focke-Wulf Fw 190A day interceptor fighter unit was assigned to the airfield in March 1943. In August 1943, JG 106 was moved to Mannheim and replaced by JG 27, a Messerschmitt Bf 109G unit that was being withdrawn from North Africa. JG 27 was based at Eschborn until September 1944. Other Luftwaffe day interceptor units assigned to Eschborn were JG 53 (March–May 1944); JG 301 (May–June 1944) and JG 2 (September 1944), flying mostly Bf 109Gs, or Fw 190As (JG 2).