Schweinfurt Army Heliport was a military facility near

Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultural and educational hub. The urban a ...

, that was part of

U.S. Army Garrison Schweinfurt United States Army Garrison Schweinfurt (USAG Schweinfurt) was a United States Army military community located in and around Schweinfurt, Germany from 1945 to 2014. The garrison comprised two installations (Conn and Ledward Barracks), two hous ...

History

The facility's origins begin in 1936 as a

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...

airfield, its primary mission being the home of light bomber (

Dornier Do 17 The Dornier Do 17 is a twin-engined light bomber produced by Dornier Flugzeugwerke for the German Luftwaffe during World War II. Designed in the early 1930s as a '' Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") intended to be fast enough to outrun opposing ...

) and dive bomber (

Junkers Ju 87 The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from ''Sturzkampfflugzeug'', "dive bomber") was a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Con ...

) units until 1942. The Luftwaffe, 1933–45
/ref> About 1940, the Luftwaffe began assigning anti-aircraft (FlaK) units to the area, in order to provide an air defense for the Schweinfurter Kugellagerwerke and other

ball bearing A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races. The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...

factories in Schweinfurt, as the city produced most of these critical components. The number of units assigned increased when the city became the target of American

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces ...

strategic bombing beginning in 1943. Schweinfurt was bombed 22 times during

Operation Pointblank Point-blank range is any distance over which a certain firearm can hit a target without the need to compensate for bullet drop, and can be adjusted over a wide range of distances by sighting in the firearm. If the bullet leaves the barrel para ...

by a total of 2285 aircraft. American bombing included the

Second Raid on Schweinfurt The second Schweinfurt raid, also called Black Thursday, was a World War II air battle that took place on 14 October 1943, over Nazi Germany between forces of the United States 8th Air Force and German ''Luftwaffe'' fighter arm (''Jagdwaffe''). ...

on October 14, 1943, ("Black Thursday") and

Big Week Big Week or Operation Argument was a sequence of raids by the United States Army Air Forces and RAF Bomber Command from 20 to 25 February 1944, as part of the European strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany. The planners intended to ...

in February, 1944. The

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

42nd Infantry Division entered Schweinfurt on 11 April 1945 and conducted house-to-house fighting in the seizure of the city and facilities.

Twelfth Air Force The Twelfth Air Force (12 AF; Air Forces Southern, (AFSOUTH)) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The command is the air component to ...

B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...

medium bombers conducted pinpoint bombing attacks during the battle on German defenses, the battle being one of the last (in addition to

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

) major combat between the German

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previou ...

against American Army units during the

Western Allied invasion of Germany The Western Allied invasion of Germany was coordinated by the Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theatre of World War II. In preparation for the Allied invasion of Germany east of the Rhine, a series of offen ...

. Elements of the USAAF IX Engineering Command were able to move into the airfield on 17 April and clear mines and destroyed aircraft, and made the facility serviceable for use by Allied transport aircraft by 18 April. It was designated as Advanced Landing Ground "R-25" and was put to use as a combat resupply and casualty evacuation airfield. Air Force Occupation units began moving into the airfield on 16 June 1945, the facility being renamed Army Air Force Station Schweinfurt. The airfield became an occupation garrison for Air Force units and also became "Schweinfurt Air Depot", being used by

Air Technical Service Command The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

. It was redesignated as Schweinfurt Air Base on 1 August 1947, in anticipation of the Air Force becoming a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. On 5 October 1947, control of the airfield was turned over to the

as the Air Force consolidated its forces around the

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

area.Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. . Shortly before closure, the U.S. Army Garrison Schweinfurt was home for roughly 11,000 people, including about 4,000 Soldiers, family members, Department of Defense civilian employees and their dependents, with the heliport being assigned to the Conn Barracks facilities. The installation was closed on September 19, 2014, following a round of base closures in Europe.

References

{{Reflist Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Germany Army Heliport Airports established in 1936 Airports in Bavaria Defunct airports in Germany

History

See also

References