Dübendorf Air Base

Militärflugplatz Dübendorf is a military airfield northeast of Dübendorf in Switzerland, located east of Zürich.

History
The search for a suitable site for an airfield started in 1909. On 1 August 1910 geography improvement of the swamp started and on 22 October 1910 the first airshow was held on the Airfield Dübendorf. Since 1914 Dübendorf has been used as an air base by the Swiss Air Force. From 1919 on Dübendorf was also an airport for civil airlines, first for the predecessor of the Swissair, the Ad Astra Aero, and from 1932 on for Swissair. During World War II there was virtually no civil flight activity.

Aircraft used from Ad Astra Aero, Swissair from Dübendorf:
 * Fokker F.VII
 * Messerschmitt M18
 * Comte AC-4
 * Lockheed L-9 Orion
 * Clark G.A. 43
 * Curtiss AT-32C Condor II
 * Douglas DC-2
 * Junkers Ju 86 Z
 * De Havilland Mosquito
 * Douglas DC-3
 * Douglas DC-4

After World War II civil aviation moved to the 1948 build civil airport Zurich Airport and Dübendorf became a purely military airfield. During World War II all foreign military aircraft were interned at Dübendorf, from US Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress or B-24 to a Nazi German Messerschmitt Me 262. The Swiss Air Force used in this time Me-109E, Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 and so on.

During the Cold War, Dübendorf was the home of Aérospatiale Alouette II and Aérospatiale Alouette III helicopters and jets such as the de Havilland Vampire, de Havilland Venom, Hawker Hunter, Dassault Mirage III and Northrop F-5 Tiger II. Also, the Swiss-built fighter jet FFA P-16 took off from Dübendorf for its first supersonic flight.

Dübendorf was the home base for the Patrouille Suisse until they moved to Emmen AFB. With the move of Fightersqadron 11 Tigers with the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet to Meiringen AFB in 2005 the history of fighter aircraft in Dübendorf ended. The air base was, at both end of the runway, equipped with retractable Arresting gear devices (used by the F/A-18 and in case of a problem by the F-5). This was arresting gear was removed after 2005.

Today
Today Dübendorf AFB is the home of Lufttransportstaffel3 and Lufttransportstaffel4 (Air Transport squadron 3 and4) with Eurocopter EC635, Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma, Eurocopter AS532 Cougar, De Havilland Canada Twin Otter, Beechcraft 1900 and Beechcraft Super King Air. Dübendorf is, together with Locarno AFB, the home base of the PC-7 Team and the Superpuma/cougar Displayteam. Other Swiss military aircraft such as the Pilatus PC-6 Turbo-Porter and Pilatus PC-9 are seen often using Dübendorf, less often the Dassault Falcon 900, Cessna Citation Excel or the armasuisse Diamond DA42 and Pilatus PC-12. Under supervision of the Swiss Air Force Dübendorf is also of friendly nations used in the context of exercises or joint missions (e.g. Austrian C-130 or German CH-53). Dübendorf acts also as parking space for private business jets and government jets during the WEF at Davos.

Also located at Dübendorf AFB is:
 * The Swiss Air Force Command (AOC)
 * Air Defense & Direction Center (the peacetime air defense C3 airops center)
 * Skyguide National (military air traffic control)
 * Skyguide (civil air traffic control for Switzerland (except western part of Switzerland, this is made by skyguide Geneva) and southern Germany)
 * Berufsfliegerkorps

Others users

 * Skyguide (see above)
 * Police Helicopter Unit
 * JuAir Operating 3 historical Ju-52
 * Base 1 of the Rega (air rescue)
 * Solar Impulse HB-SIA was build tested and now stored here.
 * Touring Club Suisse Anti skid driving ranch.
 * Flieger-Flab-Museum

Future
Actual plans are that from 2016 on the Air Force will only use helicopters at Dübendorf and that the REGA and the kantosns Polizei has to move their helicopters on the opposite side of the airfield (next to the military helicopter hangars). The government has allowed a mixed civil/military use of the AFB Dübendorf and the joint use of aircraft maintenance companies such JetAviation is hoped to ensure the continued existence of the fixed wing aircraft operating in Dübendorf. One part of the property will be used to build a so called Inovationspark (Factory, office rooms and apartments for start up enterprises).

Books

 * Fliegermuseum Dübendorf, VFMF, Dübendorf 1989 (ISBN none).
 * Ernst Frei: Erlebter Aktivdienst 1939-1945. Novalis, [Schaffhausen] 2010, ISBN 978-3-907160-54-1.
 * Max Hügli: Fliegermuseum - BAMF, Dübendorf 1981 (ISBN none).
 * Uno Zer Zero Aero Publications 2013, ISBN 978-3-9524239-05
 *  Menschen Maschinen Missionen Geschichten vom Militärflugplatz Dübendorf 1914-2014, published by Schweizer Luftwaffe 12014 ISBN 978-3-033-04653-5