Attack on Finowfurt airfield 28.02.1945

[keith A]

According to the biography of Stepan Bakhaev there was a major raid on this airfield. Several German aircraft were destroyed in the air and on the ground. Can anyone tell me which Soviet air regiments were involved? I know the 515th IAP claimed 5 aerial victories against the defenders, possibly JG300/301?

best regards

Keith

[Larry deZeng]

"Finowfurt"??
There was a Finow and a number of others that ended with "furt", but there was no "Finowfurt" to my knowledge.

L.

[Horst Weber]

Oh yes Larry

There is an airfield at Eberswalde-Finowfurt. It is located about 40 km NNE of Berlin. Postwar it was a soviet airfield until the russian troops went home in 1994.

You'll find often different names for the airfield: Eberswalde, Eberswalde-Finow or Finowfurt. The correct location-term is indeed Finowfurt.

Greetings !

Horst Weber

[Larry deZeng]

Sorry, Horst, but I am sticking to my statement above. The unpublished and published sources noted below all refer to this airfield as Finow or Eberswalde-Finow and still do.

- Ob.d.L./OKL documents researched by me and many others.
- British Air Ministry A.I.2.(b) documents on all known wartime German airfields.
- Mattiello, Gianfranco. Fliegerhorstkommandanturen und Flugplätze der deutschen Luftwaffe 1935-1945. Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 2000. Pb (oversize). 529p. Glossary of abbreviations. Appendix. Index.
- Ries, Karl and Wolfgang Dierich. Fliegerhorste und Einsatzhäfen der Luftwaffe: Planskizzen 1935-1945. Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag, 1993. ISBN: 3-613-01486-6. Hb (oversize). Dj. 313p. Airfield map sketches.

So, it seems we have a case of the Germans and Western Allies calling it by one name and the Russians by another. There are many, many cases of the same places being called by different names during the war, especially in the East.

L.

[Horst Weber]

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

Sorry, Horst, but I am sticking to my statement above. The unpublished and published sources noted below all refer to this airfield as Finow or Eberswalde-Finow and still do.

- Ob.d.L./OKL documents researched by me and many others.
- British Air Ministry A.I.2.(b) documents on all known wartime German airfields.
- Mattiello, Gianfranco. Fliegerhorstkommandanturen und Flugplätze der deutschen Luftwaffe 1935-1945. Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 2000. Pb (oversize). 529p. Glossary of abbreviations. Appendix. Index.
- Ries, Karl and Wolfgang Dierich. Fliegerhorste und Einsatzhäfen der Luftwaffe: Planskizzen 1935-1945. Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag, 1993. ISBN: 3-613-01486-6. Hb (oversize). Dj. 313p. Airfield map sketches.

So, it seems we have a case of the Germans and Western Allies calling it by one name and the Russians by another. There are many, many cases of the same places being called by different names during the war, especially in the East.

L.

Larry, stay cool

Eberswalde is a lager city in East Germany. The city is surrounded by the river Finow.

By local administration acts, this community now has the urban parts of Finow and Finowfurt (Ford over the river Finow) in the local administratial possesssion.

The airfield in question was located at the southern part of Finow, named Finowfurt.

Horst Weber

[keith A]

It seems Eberswalde-Finowfurt (Flugplatz Finow) is the location. It would appear the airfield was home to JG11, JG3 and SG3, SG151. Bakhaev claimed a Ju87 shot down which could be an aircraft of the latter or from SG3.

There is a mention of the raid in the memoirs of Marshal Rudenko but unfortunately I haven't access to this work.

regards

Keith

[keith A]

Apparently 515th IAP were flying Yak-3 fighters, and Lt Bakhaev also claimed a Fw190 which was not allowed.