Bückeburg Air Base

__NOTOC__Infobox Airport
name = Bückeburg Air Base
nativename = Heeresflugplatz Bückeburg


caption =
ICAO = ETHB
type = Military
owner = Federal Ministry of Defence
operator = German Army
city-served =
location = Bückeburg
built = 1946
used = 1946 - present
commander = Brigadier General Richard Bolz
occupants = German Army Aviators Corps
elevation-f = 230
elevation-m = 70
coordinates = coord|52|16|42|N|09|04|55|E|type:airport|display=inline
website =
metric-elev =
metric-rwy =
r1-number = 08/26
r1-length-f = 6011
r1-length-m = 1832
r1-surface = Asphalt
r2-number =
r2-length-f =
r2-length-m =
r2-surface =
stat-year =
stat1-header =
stat1-data =
stat2-header =
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footnotes =

Bückeburg Air Base (German: "Heeresflugplatz Bückeburg") is located Northeast of the city of Bückeburg, Lower Saxony, Germany.

The air base was built in 1946 as RAF Bückeburg serving the headquarters of the Royal Air Force Germany in Bad Eilsen. It complemented the nearby headquarters of the British Army of the Rhine in Bad Oeynhausen. During the Berlin Airlift it was one of the numerous air fields from where supply flights to Berlin were carried out. After the building of the British Forces' Joint Headquarters (JHQ) at Rheindahlen in 1954, the RAF closed the air base at the end of the 1950s.

With the foundation of the Bundeswehr in 1955, a decision was made that every branch of the Bundeswehr should have their own helicopter units, operating within the framework of the tasks designated to each branch of the armed forces. Thus, the German Army Aviators Corps was founded. The first training school, of this newly established branch of the German Army, the German Army Aviators School, was established in 1959 in Mendig but moved to its current location in Bückeburg in January 1960 and has been there ever since. Its first commanding office was Colonel Kuno Ebeling.

Bückeburg Air Base is used by the German Army Aviators School as one of the bases for the practical instruction of its flying and non-flying personnel. Basic flying training of helicopter pilots of other components of the German Armed Forces also takes place at Bückeburg Air Base.

Apart from the actual flight training, modern high-end flight simulators are extensively used during the training of future military helicopter pilots.

Approximately 70 helicopters are permanently based at the airfield, 30 of which are used on a daily base for training. Initial training begins with the Eurocopter EC 135. During the second stage, prospective pilots are then instructed in flying the Bell UH-1D, Bölkow Bo 105, medium transport helicopters LTH NATO-HELICOPTER 90 and Sikorsky CH-53G/GS. Flying instruction on the helicopters of the type Bell UH-1D, now being phased out, and Bölkow Bo 105, takes place at Celle Air Base.

The tasks of Army Aviators Test Squadron 910 consist not only of trials of new types of helicopters but also of tactical and logistical research aiming at improving and developing the efficiency and concepts under which the German Army Aviators Corps are supposed to fulfil their manifolds tasks.

The following units are stationed at Bückeburg Air Base:

See also

*German Army Aviators Corps
*History of the German Army Aviators Corps
*German Army
*Royal Air Force Germany

External links

* [http://www.deutschesheer.de Official site of the German Army]
* [http://www.heeresflieger.com German website dedicated to the German Army Aviators Corps]
* [http://www.hubschraubermuseum.de/hubmus_/index.jsp?bsLangCode=EN Helicopter museum in Bückeburg]