page_title: Giebelstadt Army Airfield
section_title: Postwar USAF use
hierarchical_section_title: Giebelstadt Army Airfield / History / Postwar USAF use
caption_attribution_description: English: Gate entrance at Giebelstadt Air Base, early 1960s
context_page_description: Giebelstadt Army Airfield was a closed military airfield located in Germany southwest of Giebelstadt; approximately 250 miles southwest of Berlin. It was turned over to the German government on 23 June 2006 and is now a general aviation airport.
  Fliegerhorst Giebelstadt was one of the first Luftwaffe airfields, being established in 1935. During World War II, it was a reserve airfield in the rear area of Central Germany. Later, it was a key defensive airfield as part of the Defence of the Reich campaign where Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters assigned to the field intercepted Allied bombers attacking Germany.
  After being captured by the United States Army in April 1945, it briefly became a combat airfield for the Ninth Air Force and was used by the United States Air Forces in Europe until 1968 in a variety of missions, from strategic reconnaissance to air defense interceptors. Turned over to the United States Army in 1968, it was the home of the Air Defense Artillery and many other units.
context_section_description: With the end of combat in Germany on 7 May, the combat units were withdrawn and Giebelstadt became a garrison for the Army of Occupation, designated Army Air Force Station Giebelstadt.  Repairing the damage to the airfield and the support area was performed, in large part, by German Prisoners of War, into 1946 and turning the airfield into a usable, long-term facility to be used by the Air Force.  The last POW was released from Giebelstadt on 20 August 1946. Then, for nearly a decade after the war, Giebelstadt airfield was used periodically by the Air Force until it was made a permanent United States Air Forces in Europe airbase in 1956.
  With the base and facilities undergoing repair, USAFE moved the 55th Fighter Group to Giebelstadt in April 1946 from Kaufbeuren Air Base, equipped first with P-47s, then, due to the long runway, upgraded the unit to P-80 Shooting Star jet aircraft later in 1946.  General Carl A "Tooey" Spaatz, Commanding General of the Army Air Forces, visited the base in July 1946, witnessing an aerial review of the newly acquired P-80 jet fighters. The 55th was inactivated in August due to budget reductions, the P-80s being reassigned to the incoming 31st Fighter Group which replaced the 55th.  Giebelstadt was placed on "Standby" status due to budget reductions in September, with the 31st and its jets being moved to Kitzingen Air Base.
  During 1947, with the airfield inactive, the war-damaged and repaired German jet runway was replaced with a new, 7,200' runway, and additional facilities were upgraded and brought into service.   New hangars were constructed along with a large concrete parking apron, and in late 1947 was redesignated as Giebelstadt Air Base The new Strategic Air Command dispatched nine B-29 Superfortress very heavy bombers of the 97th Bombardment Group to Giebelstadt to conduct training during temporary deployments to Europe. The last SAC personnel returned to the United States in January 1948, and afterward the facility was closed and placed on standby status due to budget reductions in the postwar era.
  The US Air Force returned in April 1950, when the 603rd Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, stationed at Hof arrived at Giebelstadt AB as part of an Operational Readiness Test. In May they were placed on temporary status and finally in August 1950, Giebelstadt was made the home of the 603d, with the main mission of Giebelstadt becoming an Air Defense Radar Station, equipped with the Bendix AN/FPS-3.3A search RADAR.   With the breakout of the Cold War, the usefulness of the airfield by the Air Force became limited, as Giebelstadt was simply too close to the East German border to station tactical aircraft.  The flight time for jet aircraft from the border was less than 15 minutes, which meant little or no time was available to launch aircraft from the field before it coming under attack.   The airfield, however, remained active as various MATS C-54 Skymaster transport units used the base during 1951–1952; then it was used by various transient transport aircraft throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
  In January and February 1956, Giebelstadt Army Airfield was one of the two West German launch sites for Project Genetrix surveillance balloons, which were targeted to obtain aerial photographs over Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
  In July 1956 the 603d ACW departed for Langerkopf AS, and the RADAR station was taken over by the 602d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, which moved in from Birkenfeld AS. With the arrival, Giebelstat was upgraded to the AN/FPS-20 General Surveillance Radar and the AN/FPS-6 Long-Range Height Finder Radar.
  Starting in 1956 Central Intelligence Agency Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft flew from the airfield in support of operation AQUATONE/OILSTONE. Detachment "A", with four U-2 aircraft, arrived at Giebelstadt from Wiesbaden Air Base in October 1956, the reason being that U-2 operations from the relatively isolated Giebelstadt would draw much less attention than from Wiesbaden. Towards the end of the year, Detachment A flew U-2s three times over Albania, Bulgar
caption: Entrance to Giebelstadt Air Base, early 1960s
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