Gotha Germany

Mission Summaries > February 1944 > Airfields in Feb 44

Gotha/Süd (GER)

(a.k.a. Gotha-Industrie, Gotha-Waggon)

(50 58 00 N – 10 44 35 E)

General: factory airfield (Industriehafen) 23 km W of Erfurt in Thuringia; airfield 4 km NE of Gotha.

History: used by the Gothaer Waggonfabrik firm for many years before the war and later for the production of Messerschmitt and Focke-Wulf aircraft.

Dimensions: approx. 1420 x 870 meters (1,550 x 950 yards).

Runway: grass surface with paved hangar apron and paved taxiway. There were 3 concrete starting platforms measuring 320 meters in length on opposing sides of the grass take-off/landing area. Gotha/North and Gotha/South were connected by a short concrete taxiway.

Infrastructure: fuel, water, ammunition, communications and other amenities were available. Factory hangars (4 very large and 2 large), assembly buildings, component, machine, hydraulic press and sheet metal shops were grouped on the W side of the airfield along the engine test beds, motor pool and garages. Airfield was served by a branch rail line.

Dispersal: 11 open aircraft shelters.

Defenses: 2 heavy and 8 light Flak positions within 2 km of the airfield in March 1943. Most of the light Flak was mounted in Flak towers or on rooftops.

Remarks:

20 Feb 44: factory bombed by 87 B-24 Liberators.
24 Feb 44: Factory bombed by 15 B-24’s of the 445^th Bomb Group (445^th Bomb Group Mission #28 – 15 of 25 aircraft dropped 150 x 500 lb. AN-M43 General Purpose bombs).
20 Jul 44: Gotha town bombed by 72 B-24s.
11 Sep 44: low-level attack by VIII Fighter Command P-51s – claimed 4 x Ju 88s, 1 x He 177 destroyed, plus 2 x Me 410s, 9 x Ju 88s, 1 x He 177 damaged.
30 Nov 44: Gotha town bombed by 22 B-17 Fortresses as a target of opportunity.
06 Feb 45: Gotha marshalling yards bombed by 88 B-17s as a target of opportunity.
21 Feb 45: low-level attack by VIII Fighter Command P-51s – claimed
2 x He 111s destroyed.
28 Feb 45: low-level attack by VIII Fighter Command P-51s – claimed 1 x Bf 109, 6 x Bf 110s, 1 x Me 410 and 1 x unidentified aircraft destroyed, plus 1 x Ju 88 damaged.
31 Mar 45: Gotha town bombed by 20 B-17s as a secondary target.

Operational Units: none identified.

Station Commands: none identified.

Station Units (on various dates): none identified.

Gothaer Waggonfabrik Industriehafen

Image courtesy of Google Earth Pro™

Note: Notice the round circles in the grass in front of the buildings. These are the remains of bomb craters even more than 70 years later - they're still visible.