Site of Staaken Airfield - near Berlin with the Control tower
Airfield Berlin-Staaken (german: Flugplatz Berlin-Staaken) was an airfield on the west side of Berlin in Germany. The airfield began as Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH started a new airship plant on a field near Staaken in an attempt to construct more airships for the German War Department (german: Kriegsministerium). The plant started on 9 July 1915, and the first of 12 airships built during World War I left the plant on 9 November 1916. As the peace treaty of 1918 did not allow Germany to build new airships or aircraft, work came to a halt. Other businesses began using the facility, including an airship service (using airship LZ120) to Friedrichshafen between August and December 1919. In December 1922 aircraft services between London and Berlin began, but as Tempelhof was more suitable for these flights, Staaken became the airfield that would serve the transatlantic route with airships. The airfield was bought by the city of Berlin in 1929, bringing back aircraft to the airfield. Lufthansa used the facility to train pilots, and to repair aircraft. During the summer Olympics of 1936 glider flying became a demonstration sport, and the flights took place from Staaken. In 1938 Berlin-Staaken was the starting point of the first land-based transatlantic flight, flying a Focke-Wulf Fw200 Condor to Floyd Bennet Field in New York in 24 hours, 56 minutes and 12 seconds. At the same time the airfield was also used for State visits. After the war the airfield was used by the Red Army Air Force for several years. When the Red Air Force left some of its buildings were used as a hospital, and the field was used to store road construction material Since the German Reunification investors were sought to turn the terrain into an industrial park. The runways and many of the airfield buildings were still intact, albeit in a derelict state. In 2011 however, Staaken was turned into a photo-voltaic powerplant.
Size: 3351px × 5025px
Location: Staaken, Berlin, Germany
Photo credit: © 2ebill / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: airfield, airship, airships, berlin, building, control, derelict, german, germany, historic, staaken, tower, zeppelin, zeppelins
