who can tell me about the history of Fliegerhorst Kaserne near Hanau, Germany?

[mark dudley]

I have been looking for any information on a little known Luftwaffe airfield near Hanau, Germany. I have come to find out that the compound may have been called Langenselbold (after the small town it is located near). It is now just outside of Erlensee, a town which apparently did not exist in WW2. There are apparently some underground bunkers there under the airfield which, now filled with water, at one time housed aircraft. There is a printed local history in the U.S. forces library in Hanau, which states that in1979, a 2-1/2 ton truck fell through the street and uncovered a network of tunnels, equipment for pumping water on and off the airfield for concealment, and 3 underground bunkers on the airfield which contained aircraft parts and a lot of water. I am looking for any information on the airfield, the units stationed there in WW2, and where I might find any info on the underground facilities. Thanks--soldier20@hotmail.com

[Richard T Eger]

Dear Mark and Fellow Members,

The initial thread Mark posted on 12 O'clock High! is now shown on the "Useful Websites" forum. Can anyone provide assistance to Mark in his quest for additional information?

Regards,
Richard

[Jaap Woortman]

I think the name of the airfield was Langendiebach. Langenselbold is too much to the N.O. of Hanau. Langediebach is more closer to Erlensee. In Ries/Dierich's Fliegerhorste der Luftwaffe pg.45 a field is mentioned Langendiebach/Hessen, 21 km. ONO Frankfurt/Main, 5 km NO Hanau, Friedesstandort, Leithorst mit befestigtem Hallenvorfeld(hardstands in front of the hangar); Deckname(Code name):>>Briefwaage<<; Allcode(Allied code): Y91.(50 10 00N - 08 58 00 O). In the book is a map of th field. A Leithorst was the airbase after which the Lufthafenbereich was mentioned in which it was. For me, Langendiebach is Nachtjagd. The following units have been at Langendiebach. Check NJG 1, Autumn 1943; NJG 2, September 1944; I./NJG 4 November 1944. I can advice you to use Andreas Holm's site for this. See our frontpage.

Jaap

[Charles D. Petrie]

Obviously, I've an interest -- but little direct knowledge -- in this area as well, as many of these smaller airfields are now in use by the U.S. Army. (No doubt, I'll be assigned to one soon enough.)

I've received several similar inquiries in my capacity as the Stormbirds webmaster: American soldiers stationed in places like Landstuhl, Giebelstadt, Kaiserslauten, Ansbach and Schwabish-Hall often hear the local legends and ask very similar questions.

The question is, where should we be looking to find answers? It's about to become an extremely relevant question in my case ...

Chuck

[Charles D. Petrie]

As anticipated, this thread just became very relevant, as I am now on orders to report to Hanau in mid-January. As such, Fliegerhorst will most likely be my home for the next 36 months. This ought to afford me a few opportunities to do some additional research, but any and all leads will continue to be more than welcome.

[Charles D. Petrie]

This is something of a follow-up post, both to clarify a point mentioned above, and to put out the call for new/updated information.

I've been assigned to this facility for the past 11 months, and can confirm that astonishingly little seems to be known about it's history. The present installation commander (Colonel David Lawrence) has something of an interest in these matters, and has asked that we attempt to put together a more definitive history than what is now available.

I can confirm that the field was indeed known as Fliegerhorst Langendiebach during the mid-30s until its capture in 1945. The handful of period photographs that I have been able to locate confirm this beyond any doubt.

There are also the rampant rumors (among both the local American and German communities) of underground hangar facilities on site; however, I have not been able to confirm or deny this. The layout of the field, coupled with the extensive network of underground service tunnels, etc. (now closed off) make this plausible, but difficult to confirm. There is, of course, the oft-cited story about a U.S. Army 2 1/2 ton truck sinking into the asphalt on the west part of the field and exposing the remnants of one such hangar in the late 70's, but apart from what Mark and Jaap have reported above, the details are lacking.

So, the question remains: does anyone have additional information which might help us to unravel the mysteries of Fliegerhorst Langendiebach?

Chuck

[This message has been edited by Charles D. Petrie (edited 14 December 2001).]

[Charles D. Petrie]

I just noticed the reference to Langenselbold in Mark's initial post. I know this town exceedingly well, as I live in the area.

As Jaap has pointed out, Langenselbold is further to the northeast of Hanau by perhaps 6 kilometers. While there was no known aerodrome there during the war years, the next town to the northeast (perhaps another 3-4 kilometers NW) did indeed harbor a prominent Luftwaffe training facility for glider pilots: Rothenbergen. The history of this field is somewhat better known that that of Langendiebach, and really quite interesting.

Rothenbergen is close to the town of Gelnhausen, but the base no longer exists apart from a few converted industrial structures, one or two overgrown bunkers and the small arms range baffles and berms which is visible from Autobahn 66. Closer to town, a tunnel/shelter complex still exists, but this has effectively been sealed off.

The landing strip itself is now farmland, and is transected by the aforementioned Autobahn, which runs from Frankfurt to Fulda. (This is a relatively new thoroughfare, and obviously was not present during the war years.) I've found a number of small aircraft parts, remnants of munitions and other items on the site.

A modest Luftwaffe museum is operated by an acquaintance of mine in Gelnhausen: Friedhelm Wagner. Herr Wagner has a special exhibit on the Rotherbergen field which is of particular interest. The museum is open only on Sunday afternoons, but is well worth the trip for enthusiasts who may have occasion to travel through Hessen.

Chuck

[MichaelHogue]

I lived on Fliegerhorst as an Army brat from 1972-1974. We all heard the same story from a number of sources.
According to the tales, there are 7 or 8 underground levels. During WWII, the Germans would flood the airfield so that it would look like a lake when Allied bombers flew over, thereby confusing the crews. After the bombers would pass, the "lake" would be drained and the aircraft, stored in the underground hangers, would be taken out. When I was there we were told by our fathers, the Base CO, etc. that only the first 3 levels were "open", and that the bottom 5 levels were "flooded". I know as a kid we explored the open levels, and had our Boy Scout meetings in one of the rooms, guarded by a metal, gasketed door with tog locks. There was also a gun range underground. We came across a huge metal door which was welded shut; this, we were told, led to the flooded levels, and that the Army had sealed it off. The reason?
Apparently towards the end of the war, the Germans had taken all their equipment down to the lower levels, airplanes included. They then booby-trapped the lower levels and opening the water pipe / valve which was used to flood the airport, flooded the lower levels. The Army had tried repeatedly to pump the water out, but were unsuccessful. Apparently the water came in as fast as they tried to pump it out. They speculate that a pipe runs to some water source (I heard "Rhine" and "North Sea", but I doubt the latter). Unable to pinpoint how the water was coming in, they sealed the levels off to keep people (like us kids) from going in, and due to the presence of booby traps. We were also told that the last German who knew how the water was coming in, as well as the locations and types of boobytraps, died in the late 50's with American Intelligence still questioning him. He never gave them the answers.
I know the levels were underneath the old military hangers (as stated, we played and had meetings in them.) The story given above was consistent everywhere we went. Personally I would love to get an ROV, reopen the old levels, and see what lays underwater, and if the source could be blocked. Apparently the Germans had "mothballed" a lot of their equipment prior to flooding in anticipation of returning to use it. After this many years I doubt the Stukas and whatnot would be in recognizable condition, however, if the door we used to attend Scouts was any indication, and knowing German thoroughness, I would strongly suspect there are sealed rooms in the flooded levels which contain well preserved mothballed gear and weaponary items. It would be well worth an expedition to open up and explore those flooded levels; I have no doubt gear is there, and given today's modern ROV technology, I think it could be done in a safe and reasonable way. There's no telling what you might find down there! (I wouldn't doubt you might find some old dead Germans sitting in waterproof rooms -- waiting for their buddies to return!)