Wittenberg: Airfield

Satellite image from May 03, 1965: Flooding of the Elbe river - The areas on both sides of the river are flooded, the airfield (1) is not recognizable. The wooden bridge visible here, built in 1945 by the Soviet army, is replaced 6 days later by a new one, which is then used until 2000.

Brückenkopf barracks and Wittenberg airfield on a US satellite image from 02 August 1969 - (1): airstrip; (2): barracks. a: Elbe river; b: harbor; c: road and railway bridges. Places: Kienberge, Pratau.

Satellite image from July 20, 1972 - The shot is distorted by the perspective, the viewer looks obliquely down to the left

Enlargement - (1) The white dots seem to mark a runway approximately in east-west direction

Enlargement - (1) The beginning of the runway is marked by 4 white markers. (2) South of the runway is the landing T. (3) To the northeast, three aircraft are parked next to the barracks. The darker aircraft to the south appears to have a tailwheel and has a wingspan of about 18 meters. This fits well with an Antonov An-2. The two lighter aircraft look like gliders at first glance. However, they have a wingspan of 21 m, which would be quite large for gliders (a PZL SZD-9 Bocian has about 18 m, many other models less)

Satellite image from August 10, 1975 - Compared to 1973, the target cross has moved slightly to the south and is now surrounded by a dashed circle.

Enlargement - (1): Aircraft Antonov An-2; The two aircraft (2) and (3) appear to have engines on the wings. The length and wingspan of the two match that of an Antonov An-14, although the tail sections of the aircraft does not quite fit here. All three aircraft appear to be on paved parking pads. The taxiway to the runway has a marked centerline. (4): The six surfaces on the western edge of the Brückenkopf barracks are occupied, and the objects look like anti-aircraft missiles. Whereas the arrangement in two adjacent rows would be unusual for the Eastern Bloc.

"The landing site there was on the Elbe meadows on the southern bank (flood area) of the Elbe. In former times the road F 2 led past it and one could observe the hustle and bustle there. The field was directly at the Brückenkopfkaserne barracks (old Prussian building), which was used by the Red Army. A windsock was present and mostly parked a Yak-12, from time to time a helicopter Mi-4. In my opinion it was a liaison airfield.

Location of the windsock was south of the barracks, approx. 150 m from the road. In similar distance were the airplanes parked, I would mean even closer at the road, because one could see even the tactical numbers clearly. The runway could only have been south of the barracks, because north of the barracks there is only a narrow strip to the Elbe river. I saw the airplanes and the windsock personally, in the years 1948-1958.

Today the barracks became the centre of a camping site with attached marina. The airfield is the annual venue of the airfield festival of the local aviation sports club and is otherwise no longer used."