22nd Air Base

Main article: Polish Air Force

The 22nd Air Base (Polish: 22. Baza Lotnicza) is an Air Force Base east of Malbork, Poland, near the village of Królewo Malborskie. It was officially constituted on 1 January 2001, replacing the disbanded 41st Fighter Aviation Regiment. The main unit based there is the 41st Air Tactical Squadron flying MiG-29 fighters.

Marienburg Focke-Wulf factory
Part of Nazi Germany
B-17s destroyed all but one of the buildings at the Marienburg Focke-Wulf factory on October 9, 1943.[1]:280
Battles/wars	Operation Pointblank (WWII)

External images
	strike and recon images

History

The Marienburg, Germany, area had a 1929 civilian airfield near Königsdorf that was acquired by the Luftwaffe in 1934.^[2] Near the airfield was a 100-acre (0.40 km²) Focke-Wulf plant that had been moved from Bremen and which produced approximately half of all Focke-Wulf Fw 190s,^[3] and the Stalag XX-B POW camp was nearby.[1] A US Eighth Air Force air raid of the on October 9, 1943, by 96 B-17 Flying Fortresses^[4] was called the Marienburg raid by Life magazine.^[5] The plant was attacked a 2nd time by 98 B-17s on April 9, 1944.^[4]

For the FMPU film which includes footage of the Marienburg raid^[5] in 1943, see Target for Today.

Post-war, Marienburg, Germany, became Malbork, Poland; and Soviet Air force units were based there^[specify] for a few years.^[when?] In 1952 the 41st Fighter Aviation Regiment was formed to be based there, initially equipped with Mig-15 fighters, later replaced with Mig-17s, and from 1964 Mig-21s.^[6] In 2001 the regiment was dissolved and its ground and air components separated, to form the 22 Air Base^{[clarification needed]} and 41st Air Tactical Squadron respectively. In 2003 the last Mig-21s were retired, and in 2004 the squadron was rearmed with refurbished Mig-29s obtained from Germany.

References

1. ^ Coffey, Thomas M. (1977), Decision over Schweinfurt: The U.S. 8th Air Force Battle for Daylight Bombing, New York: David McKay Company, pp. 280, 465, "The Germans were caught by surprise at Marienburg … which was so far east they didn't realize it had to be defended … Only one building of the factory [was] not destroyed"  on October 9, 1943. (p. 465)
2. ^ (Polish) "Historia - Ryszard Rząd". http://www.visitmalbork.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=292&Itemid=10. Retrieved 2009-12-24. 
3. ^ Gurney, Gene (Major, USAF) (1962), The War in the Air: a pictorial history of World War II Air Forces in combat, New York: Bonanza Books, p. 219 
4. ^ ^{a b} McKillop, Jack. "Combat Chronology of the USAAF". http://www.usaaf.net/chron/index.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-25.  October 1943, April 1944
5. ^ ^{a b} "U.S. Bombing: Arnold calls the Marienburg raid the best example of precision bombing" (pdf). Life: 119. November 8, 1943. http://books.google.ca/books?id=A1cEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA119. Retrieved 2009-12-24. 
6. ^ 41st Air Tactical Squadron official page

Coordinates: 54°01′36″N 19°08′11″E / 54.02667°N 19.13639°E / 54.02667; 19.13639