Kleinköris/Löpten

52°08'56"N 013°42'58"E

Runway 08/26 - 2350x37.5meters - concrete/asphalt-grass-concrete/asphalt (CLOSED)
Runway 08/26 - 2350x50m - grass (emergency use only - CLOSED)
Runway 08/26 - 2350x50m - grass (emergency use only - CLOSED)

Air field Loepten, also known as airfield Kleinkoeris or Kleinloeris/Loepten (german: flugplatz Kleinköris/Löpten) was a military reserve airfield in the region Dahmen-Spreewald in Brandenburg, Germany.
Its construction began in the 1968-1969 timeframe, and was first noted in a US intelligence document in 1969.


Although some of its buildings seem to have been built in the 1940s, the airfield infrastructure as a whole was built completely from the late 1960s-early 1970s.
Loepten was not built as a full air base, but instead had only a very basic infrastructure, with three parallel grass runways, a rudimentary tower, some dispersals and a POL site.
The airfield did have a 11.5meter wide concrete taxiway, and the beginning and end of the main runway were of mixed concrete/asphalt construction.
The three combined parallel runways had a security area on either end consisting of loose dirt, 25 meters away from the runways and taxiway.
The concrete areas of the main runway were 400meters long on the eastern side and 100meters on the western side.
The main landing direction was along runway 28.
From 1969 it served mostly as a wartime dispersal for Fighter Wing (Jagdgeschwader) 7 'Drewitz' of the East German Air Force.
About 4-5 times a year one squadron (Staffel) of JG7 would fly exercises from the facility.
The units' Soviet built aircraft were (like most Soviet aircraft) able to operate from rough surfaces.
It was also used as an exercise grounds for the helicopter unit of the Volkspolizei (the national police force).


After the reunification of Germany the airfield was closed.
It was then used as a collection point for surplus materials of the Nationale Volksarmee (NVA, the East-German Army).
In 2007 the airfield was used as an airfield one final time, as the shooting location of a historical film, including a Ju-52/3m.





Kleinköris-Löpten in 2000 (Google Earth)