Airfields of the Luftwaffe

[sidney]

Fliegerhorst Alperstedt or Gross-Ruderstedt bei Erfurt, or perhaps both...

There are two photos from an expired eBay auction showing Bf 109 G-10 and G-14/AS of 8./JG 27, with the writing overleaf "Alarmstart in Alperstedt Februar 1945". The photos were posted today, 1 September 2019, and can be found on the Luftwaffe Fliegerhorste 1933-1945 FB page, administered by Marc-André Haldimann, and others.

The same photo is said to have been published in Jochen Prien and Gerhard Stemmer's opus on II./JG 3, Strüve Verlag, 1996, p. 379 with the location given as Gross-Rudestedt bei Erfurt, Winter 1944 - 1945.

According to the aforementioned FB page member, Alperstedt and Großrudestedt are both neighbouring villages north of Erfurt. Between both villages there is still a huge field, so it is possible that this was the former airfield, lying between both villages, leading to the fact that it was named after one and/or the other villages in different sources.

The information is given with agreement and in close cooperation with Marc-André. Hopefully, Larry deZeng will find it useful for his growing airfield database.

Regards,
Sinisa

[Larry deZeng]

Hvala vam, Sinisa!

I agree. I think it was an open field, pasture, meadow that became a convenient and useful landing ground mainly because it was undeveloped and unknown to the Allies. There were a number of these in those final months of the war where the Luftwaffe had to improvise to avoid being spotted and strafed on the ground. It probably had a woods along one or more sides along which the aircraft could be parked and somewhat concealed with evergreen boughs and netting. Not having access to the photo, my comments are just speculation.

L.

[Marc-André Haldimann]

Hi there Larry,

Here is the old eBay photo in question starting this process of thinking, especially so because Jochen Prien and Gerhard Stemmer published it in 1996 as being taken at Gross Rudestedt whilst the photo backside had this written caption : “ Alarmstart in Alperstedt, February 1945”

https://flic.kr/p/2h8LBqQ

Cheers
Marc

Envoys de mon iPhone

[sidney]

You are most welcome, Larry.

In addition to Marc-André's link above, for illustration purposes I herewith attach one of the two photos with the remarks on the date and location overleaf. Source: Expired eBay auction.

Regards,
Sinisa

[Larry deZeng]

Thanks Marc and Sinisa! Although it's hard to tell with any certainty, it looks like there was something along the edge of the trees in the background. Of course, the treeline wouldn't afford as much cover in the dead of winter as it would when the trees were covered with foliage.

L.

[TigerTimon]

Correction:

Nordhorn airfield is located in Niedersachsen, not in Nordrhein-Westfalen.

Don't know if borders have changed in the meantime, but at the moment the airfield is located in Niedersachsen.

[Larry deZeng]

Hello Mr. Tiger -

It looks like we were both wrong.

1) "Lower Saxony (German: Niedersachsen) is a German state situated in northwestern Germany. It was created by the merger of the State of Hanover (Hannover) with Brunswick (Braunschweig), Oldenburg, and Schaumburg-Lippe on 1 November 1946." So it didn't exist during the NS period. All of the locations given in my monograph are during the NS period.

2) The State (Land) it was in during the NS period was Oldenburg. So I was wrong when I wrote Nordrhein-Westfalen.


Cheers,

Larry de Zeng

[TigerTimon]

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

Hello Mr. Tiger -

It looks like we were both wrong.

1) "Lower Saxony (German: Niedersachsen) is a German state situated in northwestern Germany. It was created by the merger of the State of Hanover (Hannover) with Brunswick (Braunschweig), Oldenburg, and Schaumburg-Lippe on 1 November 1946." So it didn't exist during the NS period. All of the locations given in my monograph are during the NS period.

2) The State (Land) it was in during the NS period was Oldenburg. So I was wrong when I wrote Nordrhein-Westfalen.

Cheers,

Larry de Zeng

Thank you for your answer!

Lower Saxony is not really 'wrong' though, this name is used throughout the entire document.

Kind regards,

Timon

[egbert]

There were no states (Länder) during NS-time. Nordhorn was located in Gau Weser-Ems with administrative center Oldenburg

[Larry deZeng]

Thank you, Egbert. Sometimes it is necessary to bend the "rules" a bit in the interest of clarity. While many Europeans who might have occasion to look up Nordhorn would have at least some idea of where the German states (Länder) are located, very, very few have committed the NS Gäue and their locations to memory. Accordingly, I used the present day Länder to better help researchers locate the airfields. I make no apologies.

L.