The Hugo Junkers Homepage
by Horst Zoeller, 1996 - 2020, 67th Edition, 22 Nov 2020

Junkers Zweigwerk Merseburg

Fliegerhorst Merseburg in 1937

The Merseburg airfield was already established in 1934 in the northwestern area of Merseburg as an object protective airfield for the Leuna Werke. A total of 5 aircraft hangars were built and the airfield was officially opened by Luftwaffe in October 1935.

In 1939 the Junkers Flugzeugwerke rented a part of the airfield and set up a production and developement line in some of the hangars at the airfield. This included three of the five hangars and three office buildings, where Junkers employees of the facility lived. During the following years the Ju 322 was developed here and the initial production line of 50 aircraft were already under construction in Merseburg, when the Ju322 programme was stopped. Later on, Merseburg was busy with the modification of Junkers Ju52s for military purposes, i.e. the introduction of the rear machinegun tower. Merseburg was also a production, mostly a modification center for the Ju88 / Ju188 / Ju388 and supported the Horten/Gotha flying wing design with the introduction of jet engines. In the final stage of WWII Merseburg was also busy with Mistel constructions and a lot of Mistel aircraft remained at Merseburg, when the U.S. forces occupied the airfield in April 1945.

In July 1945 Merseburg was handed over to the Soviets and the 16th Soviet Air Force was stationed here later on. Merseburg was the largest airfield with 560ha area in Eastern Germany. In 1991 the Soviets retreated from Merseburg and the airfield is now used for civil purposes.

 

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introduced Jan 2004, transfered Dec 2017
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contents last updated 23 Feb 2004