Fliegerhorst Goslar
Fliegerhorst Goslar is a military airfield and barracks in Goslar that started out as a civilian airport. It was later taken over by the Wehrmacht and, more recently, the Bundeswehr. The site has been abandoned since 2010.
In 1925, the search began for a suitable location for a new airfield in Goslar. The official opening of Goslar Airport was on June 19, 1927. By the first half of 1931, air traffic had increased, with over 200 landings. The airport was a small regional hub and an emergency stop for international flights like Berlin-Cologne-Paris. In 1932, the first hangar was built.
National Socialists
When the National Socialists took power in 1933, the focus shifted to military use. Civil aviation was restricted and eventually stopped in 1936. From 1934 to 1937, the airbase expanded with 95 buildings. These included housing, hangars, workshops, and facilities for military operations. The base housed air reconnaissance, paratroopers, weather units, and transport groups.
Second World War
On August 24, 1944, 37 bombers of the US Air Fleet attacked the airbase, dropping over 360 bombs, damaging the runway and hangars. As the Second World War came to an end, the Wehrmacht destroyed key parts of the airbase to prevent Allied use. On April 8, 1945, the remaining facilities were blown up. Goslar was a hospital town at the time, so no fighting took place. On April 10, 1945, the city surrendered peacefully to the US Army. After the US withdrawal in 1946, the British stationed engineering units, naming the site Manchester Barracks. In 1958, the German Air Force used the site again.
They developed the runway for civil use, which ended aviation operations. A French telecommunications unit stationed itself there from 1967 to 1993. In 2009, they officially closed the site. Today, part of the area is being converted into apartments, with plans to build a shopping center and commercial spaces. I visited the military site in 2020.
