Plzeň-Bory

49°44'00"N 013°20'00"E

runway: 10/28 - ...x..m - unknown

Air field Plzeň-Bory (Czech: letišti Plzeň-Bory, German: Verkehrsflugplatz Pilsen, also known as Navigacni Punkt 540 (earlier: 552), ICAO (ca 1990): LKPB) was an airfield on the southwest side of Plzeň, 84 kilometers southwest of Prague, Czech Republic
The airfield was built before World War II as a civilian airfield for the city of Pilsen. It became a Luftwaffe airfield in 1938 when major parts of Czechoslovakia were annexed to Germany. During the course of the war it was home to II./Jagdgeschwader (JG) 77, Stab. I. and III./Kampfgeschwader (Jagd) 30 (KG(J)30), IV./Kampfgeschwader 4 and Flugzeugführerschule A/B 13 'Pilsen-Süd'.
The airfield was liberated along with the city of Pilsen/Plzeň by the 16th Armored Division of Gen. Pattons 3rd Army on 6 May 1945. At the airfield they found a large number of war damaged aircraft.


Damaged Luftwafe aircraft at Plzeň-Bory in 1945


What appears to be a damaged Arado Ar 96 under the wing of an equally damaged Luftwaffe He111 at Plzeň-Bory in 1945.

The Americans left Plzeň-Bory and the city in November 1945. At about the same time the German speaking population of Pilsen was driven out of Czechoslovakia to Germany and the city got its present day Czech name of Plzeň. Plzeň-Bory was turned into a Czechoslovakian military airfield.

By the late 1980s it was home to 11. VRP with Mi-17 Hip transport and Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters. It still had a runway, roughly orientated 10/28, on the north side of the airfield. On the south side it had hangars that possibly dated back to World War II. In 1992 the helicopter unit moved to Dobrany air field, and the airfield was closed. Since, the airfield has been converted into a commercial area.
Today, because of heavy development, nothing remains of the former airfield.

Thank you to Jan Smit for identifying the Arado!