The History of Giebelstadt

The beginnings of any town are shrouded in mystery and Giebelstedt is no exception. Giebelstadt can, however, trace its history as far back as the year 820. Ruins of a small town of Celtic origin have been uncovered and have been certified as the origins of Giebelstadt. From the modest beginning, Giebelstadt has found itself in the midist of German history on several occasions. Probably the most significant events took place in the 18th Century when the farmers in the area under the leadership of Florian Geyer, Baron of Giebelstadt, organized a revolt against the rich land barons , some of whom happened to be relatives of the Baron himself. The revolt was initially successful and conditions of the farmers improved. However, the victory was short-lived when Florian Geyer met an untimely death in the Wurzburg area. Legend, though unsubstantiated, said it was murder. A large graveyard of farmers who lost their lives in the struggle is located on the outskirts Sulzdorf.

The history of Giebelstadt can be seen in its three castles: the Florian Geyer ruins with their origin in the farmers' revolt, the Freinsenhauser Castle, and the Zobel Castle belonging to the current Baron of Giebelstadt. The latter castle is still occupied and is the most preserved of the three.

Present day Giebelstadt is a small industrial town with several Gasthauses, bakeries, shops, and the Baveria Yacht factory. The area is surrounded by rich farmland used to grow mostly wheat and sugar beets.

In 1934, the German government chose the Giebelstadt area for an airfield. The area was surveyed in the spring of 1934 and that August the farmers learned why. The government appropriated the land and gave the unluckly farmers either cash or land in other locations. In 1936, flight operations began at the new airfield with the formation of Kampfgeschwader 155 (KG 155, or Bomber Wing 155) with its Heinkel HE 111 bombers. Adolf Hitler officially opened the airfield after a review of the troops on 11 September 1936. Major General Albert Kesselring inspected the base in February 1937 and presented the unit with its colors. Later that year, the people of Giebelstadt held a festival on the airbase as part of the celebration commemorating the town's 1100th year of existence.

At the beginning of World War II, the bombers flew support missions in conjunction with the German Blitzkrieg, flying many missions against various targets in France. As the war moved away from Giebelstadt, the base became a training facility for pilots, observers, and radio operators from 1939 until 1941. At first, the sod airfield was circular with planes taking off and landing into the wind, whichever direction that happened to be. However, the Luftwaffe soon constructed a new runway especially for a new-mission....testing and development of secret aircraft including the world's first jet fighter. The Messerschmidt Me-262, probably Germany's most advanced aircraft of the time, was tested and flown from the Giebelstadt airfield. In keeping with the extreme secrecy of the jet project, rhe base was "Off Limits" to everyone except those specifically authorized by the Air MInistry. Not only was the location of the airbase a closely held secret, the town name itself was banned from all maps of the region and can still be hard to find on some maps today. To hide the airfield from Allied reconnaissance aircraft, workers painted the runway to resemble a grassy field complete with fluffy white sheep. Legend has it that the Allies were completely fooled until a photo interpreter happened to have two photos of the area, taken on different days, side by side. The sheep were in exactly the same places! Camouflage efforts still proved successful because several bombing missions were flown against the airfield but only two ever found their mark.. In April 1945, the 12th Armored Division captured Giebelstadt and its airfield shortly before the end of the war in Europe.

The US Army Air Force (AAF) reactivated the airfield in 1946, with the arrival of the 55th Fighter Group. General Carl A "Tooey" Spatz, Commanding General of the Army Air Force, visited the base in July 1946, witnessing an aerial review of the newly acquired P-80 jet fighters. In 1947, the AAF extended the runway to 7200 feet and the B-29 Superfortress bombers of the Strategic Air Command arrived to conduct training during temporary deployments to Europe. However, the airfield closed again as the last US personnel left in January 1948.

The US Air Force returned in April 1950, when the 603rd Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron arrived on an Operational Readiness Test. In May 1950, they were placed on Maneuver status and finally in August 1950, Giebelstadt was the home of the 603rd. After about three years there, they departed for Langerkopf, Germany.

Web site note - There appears to be some uncertainty at this point. This article, and others somewhat similar indicate that the base was closed in January 1954 and that the 603rd relocated at Langerkopf. Communication with ex USAF personnel who served at Giebelstadt indicate that the 603rd AC&W Squadron remained in Giebelstadt until the summer of 1956 - when they moved to Langerkopf, and were replaced by the 602nd AC&W Squadron.

The USAF returned in 1956 with the stationing of the 602nd AC&W Squadron which was to stay at Giebelstadt until 1968. From 1956 to 1958, U-2 reconnaissance aircraft flew from the airfield. Some locals still recall meeting a young pilot named Francis Gary Powers who would later achieve notoriety when his U-2 was shot down over the Soviet Union. With the departure of the of the 602nd in 1968, the airfield reverted to Army control under a series of air defense artillery units.

Web site note - Again, there appears to be some uncertainty. Everything that we have uncovered to this date indicates that Detachment "A", with four U-2 aircraft, arrived at Giebelstadt from Wiesbaden Air Base in October 1956. The Detachment was operational at Geiebelstadt until 15 November 1957, when it was closed down. Reports about Francis Gary Powers flying from Giebelstadt are, at best, "wishful thinking". Powers graduated from the second U-2 pilot training class, and operated from Detatchment "B" which was located in Turkey.

Many Army units came and went over the years, but in recent time the airfield hosted the 4th Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) flying mostly AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters and UH-60 Blackhawk transport helicopters.The 4th Brigade left Giebelstadt in early 1992, replaced by AH-64 Apache attack helicopters of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, and UH-60 Blackhawk and OH-58 Kiowas of the 12th Aviation Birgade. Air Defense Artillery (ADA) continued to play a major role on the airfield with the presence of the 6th Battalion, 52nd ADA Regiment, with its Hawk missile batteries and the senior officer on post commanding the 69th ADA Brigade. In 1993, the Apache helicopter and Hawk ADA units deactivated and a CH-47 Chinook company arrived from Schwaebisch Hall Army Airfield. In 1994, the OH-58 Kiowa units disbanded as the aircraft returned to the states for conversion to armed OH-58 Kiowa Warriors.

Also in 1994, tragedy struck the Giebelstadt military community in April when two Blackhawk helicopters of the 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, assigned to Giebelstadt were mistakenly shot down by USAF F-15's over Iraq. All 26 people were killed, including eight Giebelstadt crew members.

In 1995, the primary units on Giebelstadt Army Airfield are: the 69th ADA Brigade, the 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment(UH-60's); A Company, 5th Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment (CH-47s; and B Company, 7th Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment (Third Corps Support Command aircraft maintenance), US Air Force units on Giebelstadt AAF are Det. 10, 617th Weather Squadron, providing weather support for the airfield and to the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) headquartered in Wuerzburg, and OL-C, 617th Comm Squadron, providing maintenance support for meteorological and navigation equipment in the area.

This detail was extracted from a letter acquired from the Giebelstadt Army Airfield personnel and made available to this web site by Donald Bosh.