Brunswick Germany
Mission Summaries > January 1944 > Airfields in Jan 44
Braunschweig-Waggum
(GER)
(a.k.a. Brunswick-Waggum)
(52 19 10 N – 10 33 15 E)
General: airfield (Fliegerhorst) in Lower Saxony
6.4 km NNE of Braunschweig city center and adjacent to Waggum village on its SW
and S side.
History:
constructed in 1935, Waggum served as a civil airport on the N side of the
airfield, a Luftwaffe flight training, aeronautical technical training and
meteorlogical training center on the S and SE side and as a factory airfield (Industriehafen) of the MIAG firm, that
assembled Bf 110 aircraft among other things, on the NW side. The
airfield was enlarged to its final dimensions in 1938.
Dimensions:
1,800 x 1,080 meters.
Runway:
grass surface with a concrete hangar apron, a large paved servicing area on the
N side and 2 smaller paved servicing areas on the S side. Equipped with a beam
approach system and the visual Lorenz system for night landings.
Infrastructure:
full servicing and support facilities. There were 9 large hangars, 4 medium and 3 small in four
clusters around the landing area. The MIAG factory had 3 large assembly halls
in the NW corner. Admin, supply, classroom and a large number of other
buildings were in two groups at the N and S sides of the field. A large
block of barrack buildings was
situated off the S boundary and a separate group of barrack huts was located in
the hangar area at the N end.
Dispersal:
4 separate areas at the NW, N, E and SE boundaries in Jan 44 with a total of 23
large and 22 medium aircraft shelters along
with 3 parking stands, all connected by
taxi tracks. A railway line
passed within .8 km of the W boundary.
Defenses:
4 heavy Flak positions of 6 guns each between 3 and 6 km from the airfield, and
6 light Flak positions within 2 km of the field. Some of light Flak was mounted
in towers and some on rooftops.
Satellites
and Decoys:
Braunschweig-Grassel (GER)(52 21 22 N – 10 36 51 E).Dummy 12 km NE of Braunschweig, 5.7 km NE of Braunschweig- Waggum airfield and 1.6 km SE of Grassel. Set up as a decoy for Braunschweig-Waggum airfield and the mock-up included a hangar and a number of parked aircraft.
Remarks:
- Surrounded by war production targets, such as the MIAG plant and the Niedersachsiger Motorenwerke that produced aircraft engines and was just 2 km from the SW corner, Braunschweig-Waggum was bombed many times during the war.
- 29 Mar 44: low-level attack by VIII Fighter Command P-51 Mustangs – claimed 1 x Ju 88 destroyed plus 2 x Ju 88s and 4 x unidentified aircraft damaged.
- 05 Aug 44: bombed – 3 x He 111Ps from FFS B 37 destroyed or damaged on the ground.
- 24 Aug 44: bombed - 2 x He 111s, 1 Ju 52 and 1 x Si 204 from FFS B 35 destroyed or damaged on the ground.
Operational Units: II.(Schl.)/LG 2 (Jun-Aug 40); Wekusta 26 (Jul-Oct 39); 10.(Schlacht)/LG 2 (c. Aug
40 - Feb/Mar 41); III./LLG 1 (Sep 40 – 1941/42); KGr. z.b.V. 106 (Apr 41); KGr.
z.b.V. 102 (Jan-Feb 42); KGr. z.b.V. 400 (Jan-May 43); Wekusta 26 (Ost) (Feb
45).
School Units:
Segelflugschule d.Lw. Braunschweig-Waggum (Jan – Sep 40); FFS B 37 (Jul – Sep
44); FFS A 118 (Dec 44 – Mar 45); II./JG
107 (Jan – Mar 45); I./JG 110 (Feb – Apr 45).
Erg./Ers.
Units: KGr. z.b.V. 300 (Jul 42 –
Mar 43); IV./KG 27 (Mar – May 43).
Station Commands:
Jul-Aug 39: mobilized as an E-Hafen with FpN L 37663, but deactivated later in
1939; Flugplatzkdo. Braunschweig- Waggum of Fl.H.Kdtr. A(o) 24/XI
Braunschweig-Broitzem (1944-45).
Kommandant
(mainly prior to the establishment of numbered station commands – not complete): Maj. Bernhard Reimers (Jul 39 - ? );
Obstlt. Hermann Schiffers (Nov 42 - ? ).
Station
Units (on various dates – not complete):
Werft-Abt. (o) 29/XI (spring 44 –
1945); elements of le.Res.Flak-Abt. 762 (1943-44);
1./le.Flak-Abt. 925 (1943-44).
Brunswick-Waggum Aircraft Factory
Image courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration ©
Brunswick Bf 110 Aircraft Factory
Image courtesy of Google Earth Pro ™