Neuburg Air Base is a military air base in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is located in the district of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen on the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

River, approximately 20 km west-southwest of

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (; Austro-Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an Independent city#Germany, independent city on the Danube, in Upper Bavaria, with 142,308 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2023). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan ...

. Its primary user is

Jagdgeschwader 74 Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 74 (74th Tactical Air Force Wing), formerly known as Jagdgeschwader 74 (JG 74) (74th Fighter Wing), is an aviation unit of the German Air Force, based on Neuburg Air Base in Bavaria since 1961. On 1 October 2013, t ...

(JG 74 for short, Fighter Wing 74 in English) of the

German Air Force The German Air Force (, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ) was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War as the aerial warfare branch of the armed forces of West Ger ...

(''Luftwaffe''), which provides air defence for Southern Germany. Since 2006

Eurofighter Typhoon The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, supersonic, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Syste ...

s have been operated from the base. Although Neuburg is the smallest fighter aircraft base in the

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

, the air base was virtually unaffected by the Bundeswehr reform announced in 2011.

History

The history of military aviation in Neuburg dates back to the year 1912, when a military aircraft landed in the drill square in Neuburg for the first time. In 1935 construction of the base started. In 1937, the base was designated as the "Aviation Weapons School". It was equipped with Dornier Do 23's, Focke-Wulf Fw 56's, and

Junkers Ju 52 The Junkers Ju 52/3m (nicknamed ''Tante Ju'' ("Aunt Ju") and ''Iron Annie'') is a transport aircraft that was designed and manufactured by German aviation company Junkers. First introduced during 1930 as a civilian airliner, it was adapted int ...

's. Close to the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Neuburg also served as a base and construction facility for the jet-driven Me 262 fighter aircraft. On March 19, 1945, the Neuburg jet plant itself was bombed by B-24 Liberators of the

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

392d Bombardment Group. After being taken by the Americans, the airfield received the Allied Code designation R-60. The airfield it is a part of the major maneuver from June 12 to June 23, 2023, held under the leadership of the German Air Force Air Defender 23 it is the greatest exercise of air forces since NATO was announced.

References

Luftwaffe bases Neuburg an der Donau Bases of the German Air Force Airports in Bavaria {{Germany-airport-stub