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Kitzingen Army Airfield |
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| History | |||
 Kitzingen Army Airfield, recent (Mike Smith) |
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 Kitzingen Army Airfield, recent (Mike Smith) |
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| 1964 | |||
| (Source: Email from Charlie R. Carter) | |||
| I was assigned to Kitzingen Tower as a Tower Operator from 1964 to 1966. The Tower (see photo below) was located on top of a old German Hangar which also housed Flight Operations, an Air Force Weather Detachment, the PX, Snack Bar, Gym, and a German office where we paid our off-base Telephone bills. Also in the same building was an American Express Office and Bowling Alley, as well as a USO Club. | |||
 Kitzingen AAF tower and hangar |
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| The aircraft assigned at that time were CH-34's, OH-13's, U-6 Beavers, O-1A Birddogs, and 3 OV-1 Mohawks. They finally got Hueys about 6 months before I rotated back to the States. To reach the Tower, we had to go out on the roof above Flt Ops and walk across the roof, or, go in the back door of the Snack Bar, and up stairs. We had a GCA Radar on the south side of the runway. About once a month, a German Sheepherder would bring his flock in, along with several dogs to control the sheep. That's how we got the grass cut on the airfield. On weekends, a German Glider Club would come on base and fly gliders off the south taxiway. They were launched with a winch truck, of all things. They had a Volkswagon Microbus which would pull the winch line out for a 1000 feet or more, then attach to the front of the glider and away they went! I remember one time, when they were building a PX Annex building next to the old hangar, right below the Tower, they dug up a old German Messerschmitt which still have live bombs on it. They evacuated everyone out of the building we were in, except Tower personnel and Flt Ops personnel. I had to stay in the Tower for 3 days until they got everything de-fused. Another thing I remember about Kitzingen AAF was that the German Luftwaffe supposedly had a system to flood the airfield, during the day, with water fron the Main River, to hide it from the Army Air Corps. I also remember that the VOR at the airfield was controlled via a console in the Tower. We could turn off one transmitter, with a telephone dial, then turn on the other transmitter. As this was during the "Cold War", we could also blow it up! The Control Tower operated from 6 am till 10 pm, unless some type Special Ops were going on. We worked with the German Air Route Traffic Control Center in Frankfurt to obtain IFR Clearences for our aircraft which were flying on an IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) Flight Plan. The Approach Control At Kitzingen also provided Approach Control for Aircraft operating out of Illisheim AAF. I got to Germany as a PFC, and was promoted to SP/4 while at Kitzingen. The last year there, I was made the Tower Chief, as I was the most experienced controller there. I had 3 SP/5's who were under me, which caused a "Bone of Contenion" at times! I was assigned to Headquarters Co, 3rd Avn Bn. The Battalion CO was LTC McDaniels, and the Airfield Commander (My Boss) was Major Felkner Ward. We were attached to the 3rd Inf Div. |
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| History | |||
 Kitzingen Fire Department, Harvey Barracks (Benno Knorr) |
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 Kitzingen Fire Department, Harvey Barracks (Benno Knorr) |
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