Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Laupheim Air Base is a German Air Force airfield near the town of Laupheim in Baden-Württemberg, home to Helicopter Wing 64 and its fleet of transport and utility helicopters. Dating from the Luftwaffe era of 1938-1940, it offers a hard-surfaced main runway alongside a shorter grass strip, both lit, though there is no ILS. For the sim pilot it is a useful case study in a long-serving German military rotary-wing base with a layered wartime and Cold War history.
Laupheim Air Base (ICAO: ETHL) is a German Air Force installation close to the town of Laupheim in Baden-Württemberg. It is operated by the German Air Force and is the home station of Helicopter Wing 64, which bases the majority of its helicopter fleet and personnel here. For a simulator pilot the field is notable as a still-active military helicopter base with origins stretching back to the late 1930s, combining a substantial hard runway with a short grass strip and no instrument landing system.
The airfield lies immediately adjacent to the city of Laupheim in Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany, at coordinates 48.2201N, 9.9102E and an elevation of 1762 feet. As a German Air Force base it sits within military-associated airspace typical of Bundeswehr helicopter stations in the region.
Laupheim has two physical runways. The main runway, 09/27, is 5348 feet long with a hard surface and runway lighting. A secondary runway, 03/21, is a shorter 2250-foot grass strip, also lit. There is no ILS at the field.
Air-to-ground communication is provided on 42.4 MHz. The tower callsign is Lima Tower, also operating on 42.4 MHz, with Lima Radar available on 34.4 MHz and 119.1 MHz. En-route control is handled by Munchen Control on 129.45 MHz. There is no ILS approach published for the field.
Construction of a Luftwaffe base near Laupheim began in August 1938 and was completed in March 1940. During the Second World War the base hosted a training unit, a nightfighter wing and a Zerstörer wing, and it also housed a small production facility for the Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 Drache twin-rotor helicopter. The base was attacked repeatedly by Allied aircraft: on 19 July 1944, 45 USAAF B-24 bombers dropped 115 tons of ordnance, destroying ten aircraft and damaging hangars, barracks and air traffic control facilities, along with three completed Fa 223 helicopters. Further attacks followed on 31 July and 9 August 1944 (the latter mistakenly targeting German Fw 190s of Fighter Wing Udet), on 26 November 1944 by P-47 Thunderbolts, and on 18-19 April 1945. On 20 April 1945 French bombers destroyed or severely damaged all aircraft remaining on the base, and French forces occupied Laupheim on 23 April 1945. The base was rebuilt from 1964 as a home for German Army Aviation Corps helicopters, initially flying the Sikorsky H-34. In 1971 it became the headquarters for army aviation units across southern Germany, and Army Aviation Battalion 200 and Maintenance Squadron 207 merged to form Medium Army Aviation Transport Helicopter Regiment 25, renamed Army Aviation Regiment 25 in 1979. The CH-53G entered service at Laupheim in 1973. Helicopters based here have flown more than 120,000 hours on humanitarian and disaster-relief missions in Italy, Greece, the Pyrenees and the Alps. On 21 June 1989 the base was officially named the Kurt Georg Kiesinger Barracks after the former German Chancellor. Following the closure of Neuhausen ob Eck Air Base, some Bo 105M helicopters and personnel were transferred to Laupheim to form Army Aviation Support Squadron 10.
Laupheim remains an active German Air Force base and is the home station of Helicopter Wing 64, which stations 48 of its 60 helicopters here alongside some 1,200 personnel. As an operational military installation, prior permission is required for any flight activity.
