Hanau Army Airfield

Hanau / Langendiebach Army Airfield AAF Station Hanau/Langendiebach Advanced Landing Ground Y-91
Hanau Army Airfield Hanau Army Airfield (Germany)
historical tower building 2016
Coordinates	50°10′03″N 008°57′41″E / 50.16750°N 8.96139°E / 50.16750; 8.96139 (Y-91 Hanau)
Type	Military Airfield
Site history
In use	Closed 1992
Battles/wars	Western Front (World War II)

Hanau Army Airfield is a former military airfield located in Langendiebach, part of the municipality of Erlensee, some 5.2 km (3.2 mi) north-northeast of Hanau in Hesse, Germany.

Even before the construction of the airfield in 1936, Langendiebach was used for military purposes. During the Roman period (100-260 AD) the fort Lingen cohort and the small fort Langendiebach was built to secure the Upper Germanic Limes border. A total of 500 soldiers were stationed from Dalmatia. Parts of these constructions can still to be found. The construction of the airfield, in the meadows of Langendiebach, goes back to an accident. In the summer of 1936 the Air Force had to hold maneuvers. In an air exercise, machines were involved from the Ju-TYPE 52nd. One of these machines was forced to perform an emergency landing and landed it on the meadows of Langendiebach. After recovery of the machine it was discussed to build an airfield of the high command in the meadows.

Ground was broken for the construction of the Langendiebach Airfield, or Fliegerhorst Langendiebach as it was then known, in the summer of 1936, after a Junkers Ju 52 on maneuvers made an emergency landing in the meadows behind Reusserhof. Although it was originally intended that there should be three phases of construction, only the first phase of construction was completed, due to the outbreak of World War II. On 19 March 1939 the official opening of the airfield was marked by a large celebration, involving a parade from the center of Erlensee to the front gate, and a festival with an air show which saw 25,000 civilian attendees.

In 1940, Langendiebach became the site of a glider school (Flughafen-Bereichs-Kommando 3/XII), the graduates of which went on to participate in, among other operations, the invasion of the Soviet Union ("Operation Barbarossa"). In addition to gliders, there were various experimental aviation units at Langendiebach, including a high-altitude fighter squadron. From the middle of 1944 until the Americans succeeded in crossing the Rhine, two successive groups of Junkers Ju 88 Nightfighters, the I/NJG 4 then III/NJG4, were stationed at Langendiebach. Once the Americans had crossed the Rhine River, these elements of the Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 (NJG 4) were withdrawn to North Eastern Germany.