Airfields of the Luftwaffe

[eknutson]

This may be of interest then:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/108070235@N05/sets

here you can go to the different albums, containing pictures of what is left off / on the airfields in south western Norway ( bømoen - lista - herdla- sola - forus - mandal ) is what i have done so far. I try also to get Inside weu of the buildings.

Regards
Ernst Knutson

[Pete63]

Wow - thanks for posting, guys..! I'm impressed by the enormous amount of work and the even more impressive outcome..! A great contribution for Luftwaffe researchers..! A big hand to all contributors..! Piet Bouma (The Netherlands)

[byron-]

Hello gents,

attached the officers of Stab/Kdo. Flughafenbereich 5/IV Athens

[kettbo]

Could someone list a few airfields and provide any details of the FLAK/AAA present?
Big, medium and small (fighter Staffel strip) would be great!

I am trying to make some WW2 miniatures gaming rules

[Larry deZeng]

Kettbo -

It would depend on the location, i.e., at the front or in the rear, the theater, the type of "airfield" (Feldflugplatz, Landeplatz, Einsatzhafen, Flugplatz, etc.), early in the war, middle of the war or late in the war, whether the fighter unit was at the field for just a few days or for a longer period, the enemy air threat in that particular area, the availability of natural cover dispersals such as parking bays cut into treelines or the lack thereof, etc. It varied all over the place from one fighter field to another so it is impossible to come up with a "one size fits all" template.

L.

[kettbo]

Larry,
My apologies for being less than specific last night. The focus of my miniatures game is Western France, June through September, 1944. A fictitious USAAF P-47D Group tries to complete a variety of missions. Defending is a LW Staffel with Bf109G-6/U3. This is my initial trial set-up. Naturally other types of aircraft will appear; passing through the battle space, transfer in/out, etc. I'm tired of the nit-picking of who is 3.5 mph faster or turns 2* more per minute and let's face it, too much detail makes an air skirmish of a few moments an afternoon gaming! To make the game more manageable I'm stripping off most of the performance attributes. The focus here is leadership, pilot skill, getting into position, or simply moving out of danger. I'd like to see several related missions in one afternoon.

So back to the airfield FLAK/AAA. Normandy area, all the major bases bombed-out. I'm pretty sure of dispersal to primitive landing fields, and have seen in JG-26 WAR DIARY mention of 2 Staffeln sharing what is more a less a field. Yes, fighters backed into the woodline, a forward strip. Could you hazard a low/average/high estimate on what we'd have here? I've no clue to the LW FLAK organization down this low. I'd think a battery of 4-6 20mm, 20/4 vierling, or even 3.7cm would be about right. I'd also think that the ground crewmen have field expedient rigs of 20mm, 13mm, and 7.92mm machine guns. Any help much appreciated!

[Larry deZeng]

George -

Thanks for the clarification.

The Fliegerhorstkommandantur (Airfield Command) had an allowance of 6 x Fla-MG 08 and 4 x 2cm Flak guns that were manned as needed by a few men from the Horst-Kp. (see KStN L 1304a, b, c, d and e; British Air Ministry Document S.D. 431 of January 1943, p.17). The manning of the guns was usually an extra duty performed when the airfield was under threat of air attack.

For the small, improvised fighter airstrips in France that were usually vacant until a fighter unit arrived, additional Flak assets could be brought up to reinforce those provided by the Fliegerhorstkommandantur. Depending on the perceived threat and the nature of that threat, these assets could consist of one or two batteries of light Flak or one battery of light and one battery of medium for protecting a fighter airstrip. Fortunately for the Luftwaffe, France was flush with Flak units in 1944 so a battery or two or parts thereof could usually be provided. USAAF and RAF fighters and fighter-bombers treated Luftwaffe airfields in France with great respect unless, (1) the airfield had just been bombed by heavies, and/or (2) aerial reconnaissance and/or ULTRA had just reported a great number of aircraft there and it was decided that this was an opportunity that could not be passed up. Otherwise, strafing a Luftwaffe airfield in northern France was risky business.

Leichte Flakbatterie (KStN L 2201 or 2202) with 12 x 2cm Flak guns.
Mittlerer Flakbatterie (KStN L 2401 or 2402) with 9 x 3.7cm Flak guns.

For information on specific field fighter strips in NW France, go here:

http://www.ww2.dk/ - Click on the Contents menu, then click on France.
Here are a few of the 100+ field airstrips, satellite strips, dispersal airfields, etc., that the Luftwaffe constructed in France between December 1943 and August 1944:

Beillé
Connantre
Lonrai
Manancourt
Semallé

L.

[kettbo]

Larry,

You knocked this one out of the ballpark! (a Baseball homerun!)

I had been looking at the AIRFIELD data and I will dig further. A great resource! The bigger complexes had the defender data. Yes, I have seen comments about the bases having the respect of the Allied pilots. The gunners had plenty of live fire experience.

[Knut Larsson]

Exstremely useful
Thanks to Larry

Regarding Norway, we agree on both the numbers of airfields and seaplane stations (28) (22) except for a German seaplante station at Banak/Hamnbukt ???. You mentions also 2 Scheinplätze (decoy), however it were at least 4 in Norway. You mentions 3 Landeplatz/Notlandeplatz , it were at least 19 in Norway.

Knut

[Larry deZeng]

Thanks Knut and the others who have provided constructive comments here. If I am ever able to do a revised edition of these country-by-country airfield monographs, then I will get back to you to coordinate your recommendations. But for now, I still have Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Albania, Italy, North Africa, The Baltic States and Russia to do and that will take several more years to complete. Thanks again to all.

L.