Lipetsk fighter-pilot school

Last updated

The Lipetsk fighter-pilot school (German : Kampffliegerschule Lipezk), also known as WIWUPAL from its German codename Wissenschaftliche Versuchs- und Personalausbildungsstation "Scientific Experimental and Personnel Training Station", was a secret training school for fighter pilots operated by the German Reichswehr at Lipetsk, Soviet Union, because Germany was prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles from operating an air force and sought alternative means to continue training and development for the future Luftwaffe . It is now the site of Lipetsk Air Base.

Contents

Background

Fokker D.XIII at Lipetsk Bundesarchiv RH 2 Bild-02292-207, Russland, Lipezk, Flugzeuge Fokker D. XIII.jpg
Fokker D.XIII at Lipetsk

The Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919, prohibited Germany from operating any form of air force after the country had lost the First World War. Initially, it also prohibited the production and import of any form of aircraft to the country. In 1922, the clause on civilian aircraft was dropped and Germany was able to produce planes again, followed in 1923 with the country regaining control of its airspace. The operation or production of aircraft for military means was however still prohibited. [1]

The German military, the Reichswehr, was well aware of the value of air warfare and was determined not to fall too far behind in knowledge and training. For this purpose alternative means, outside Germany, were explored. [1]

Germany had normalised its relations with Soviet Russia in 1922, with the signing of the Treaty of Rapallo. At the time, both countries were outcasts in the world community. [2]

Initially, Germany was unwilling to break the Treaty of Versailles. This attitude changed however in 1923, when French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr area after Germany defaulted on reparations payments. In light of the events of the Ruhrkampf , the German Army ordered 100 new aircraft from Fokker in the Netherlands, among them 50 newly developed Fokker D.XIIIs. Additionally, the German Navy had also ordered a small number of planes. [1]

With the end of the Ruhrkampf in September, Germany was at a loss as to how to utilize the planes which were due for delivery in 1924. The Soviet Union was approached and showed an interest in allowing Germany to develop aircraft in the country; the German manufacturer Junkers had already been operating a production facility for military aircraft near Moscow since 1923. [1]

In June 1924, retired Colonel Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen became a permanent representative of the Reichswehr's Truppenamt , the secret General Staff of the German Army, in Moscow. At the same time, seven German instructors were sent to the Red Air Force. On 15 April 1925, Lieth-Thomsen signed a contract to establish a German fighter-pilot school at Lipetsk. [1]

Fighter school

Extensive works were required at Lipetsk to prepare for the German fighter-pilot school, Lipetsk Air Base. It operated from 1926 to 1933. [1] [3] In June 1925, the base was ready for flight operations but training of German pilots was only possible from spring 1926 onwards. The new school, up until its closure, trained 120 fighter pilots, over 300 ground personnel and 450 administrative and training staff, [4] who, in turn, were able to serve as instructors when the new German Luftwaffe was formed in 1935. The facilities were also used to train Soviet pilots and to develop new bombing targeting methods. In an average summer, 140 German personnel were at Lipetsk, a number that was reduced to 40 in winter. Additionally, 340 Soviet personnel were employed, with an annual budget of 4 million Reichsmark (equivalent to 15 million 2021 €) at its high-point in 1929. [1] The disguise German name for the facility, abbreviated with the WIWUPAL contraction, was the Wissenschaftliche Versuchs-und Prüfanstalt für Luftfahrzeuge (Scientific Research and Test Institute for Aircraft). [5]

In addition to the school at Lipetsk, Germany operated a tank school, the Panzerschule Kama (1926–33) and a gas warfare facility, Gas-Testgelände Tomka (1928–31) in the Soviet Union. [1]

Closure

In the early 1930s, the political situation for the flight school began to change. The Soviet Union opened itself to the West while Germany attempted a closer approach to France. Additionally, the Soviets were unhappy about the lack of development carried out at the school. [1]

In December 1932, Germany achieved being viewed as an equal at the Geneva Conference, making the fighter school somewhat unnecessary. With the rise of the Nazis to power in January 1933, the ideological gap between fascist Germany and the communist Soviet Union became too large and the fighter school at Lipetsk was closed on 15 September 1933. [1]

The fighter school at Lipetsk is referenced in the German crime drama series Babylon Berlin , Season 2 - episodes 3, 4, 5 and 6.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Luftwaffe</i> Aerial-warfare branch of the German military forces during World War II

The Luftwaffe was the aerial-warfare branch of the German Wehrmacht before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the Luftstreitkräfte of the Imperial Army and the Marine-Fliegerabteilung of the Imperial Navy, had been disbanded in May 1920 in accordance with the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles which banned Germany from having any air force.

<i>Reichswehr</i> 1921–1935 combined military forces of Germany

Reichswehr was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army was dissolved in order to be reshaped into a peacetime army. From it a provisional Reichswehr was formed in March 1919. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the rebuilt German army was subject to severe limitations in size, structure and armament. The official formation of the Reichswehr took place on 1 January 1921 after the limitations had been met. The German armed forces kept the name 'Reichswehr' until Adolf Hitler's 1935 proclamation of the "restoration of military sovereignty", at which point it became part of the new Wehrmacht.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finnish Air Force</span> Aerial warfare branch of Finlands armed forces

The Finnish Air Force is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions. The Finnish Air Force was founded on 6 March 1918.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans von Seeckt</span> 2nd Chief of Staff of the German Reichswehr

Johannes "Hans" Friedrich Leopold von Seeckt was a German military officer who served as Chief of Staff to August von Mackensen and was a central figure in planning the victories Mackensen achieved for Germany in the east during the First World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albatros L 65</span> Type of aircraft

The Albatros L 65 was a German two-seat reconnaissance fighter biplane first flown in 1925.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lipetsk (air base)</span>

Lipetsk Air Base is an air base in Lipetsk Oblast, Russia located 12 km northwest of Lipetsk. It is the combat training center of Russian Air Force, analogous to the United States Air Force's Nellis Air Force Base. The base is made up of two medium-sized airfields joined together.

Black Reichswehr was the name for the extra-legal paramilitary formations promoted by the German Reichswehr army during the time of the Weimar Republic; it was raised despite restrictions imposed by the Versailles Treaty. The secret organization was dissolved in 1923 upon the failed Küstrin Putsch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulgarian Air Force</span> Air warfare branch of Bulgarias armed forces

The Bulgarian Air Force is one of the three branches of the Military of Bulgaria, the other two being the Bulgarian Navy and Bulgarian land forces. Its mission is to guard and protect the sovereignty of Bulgarian airspace, and jointly with the other branches, to protect territorial integrity. The Bulgarian Air Force is one of the oldest air forces in Europe and the world. In recent times it has been actively taking part in numerous NATO missions and exercises in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Günther Lützow</span> German officer and fighter pilot

Günther Lützow was a German Luftwaffe aviator and fighter ace credited with 110 enemy aircraft shot down in over 300 combat missions. Apart from five victories during the Spanish Civil War, most of his claimed victories were over the Eastern Front in World War II. He also claimed 20 victories over the Western Front, including two victories—one of which was a four-engined bomber—flying the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fokker D.XIII</span> Type of aircraft

The Fokker D.XIII was a fighter aircraft produced in the Netherlands in the mid-1920s. It was a development of the Fokker D.XI with a new powerplant and considerably refined aerodynamics, and had been designed to meet the requirements of the clandestine flying school operated by the German Army at Lipetsk in the Soviet Union. Like its predecessor, it was a conventional single-bay sesquiplane with staggered wings braced by V-struts. The pilot sat in an open cockpit and the undercarriage was of fixed, tailskid type. The wings were made of wood and skinned with plywood, and the fuselage was built up of welded steel tube with fabric covering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heinkel HD 37</span> Type of aircraft

The Heinkel HD 37 was a fighter aircraft, designed in Germany in the late 1920s, but produced in the USSR for Soviet Air Force service. It was a compact, single-bay biplane with staggered wings of unequal span, braced by N-type interplane struts. The pilot sat in an open cockpit, and the main units of the tailskid undercarriage were linked by a cross-axle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heinkel HD 38</span> Type of aircraft

The Heinkel HD 38 was a fighter aircraft developed in Germany in the late 1920s. It was a compact, single-bay biplane with staggered wings of unequal span, braced with N-type interplane struts, a refined version of the HD 37 that had been evaluated and rejected by the Reichswehr for use at the secret training facility at Lipetsk. The HD 38 was designed in the hope of capturing a different niche - that of a seaplane fighter, and was designed with a twin pontoon undercarriage that could be quickly removed and replaced with wheels. It was accepted in this role, but did not serve in it for long before being relegated to general training duties. Even then, it was not long before Germany abandoned the Lipetsk base to the Soviet Union.

The Junkers J 21 was a reconnaissance aircraft designed in Germany in the early 1920s and produced in the Soviet Union at the Junkers plant at Fili for use by the Soviet Air Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Junkers K 47</span> German fighter

The Junkers K 47 was a two-seater fighter aircraft developed in Sweden by the Swedish subsidiary of the German firm Junkers during the late 1920s, a civil development of which was designated the A 48.

Emil Thuy, Pour le Merite, Württemberg's Order of Military Merit, House Order of Hohenzollern, Iron Cross First and Second Class, was one of the leading German fighter aces of World War I, with 35 victories. After the war, he was an adviser to the Finnish air force and was involved in the secret origins of the Luftwaffe within the Soviet Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen</span>

General Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen was a German military aviation pioneer, a senior air commander in the Imperial German Army Air Service during World War I, and a founding father of the German military aviation.

<i>Wehrmacht</i> Unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945

The Wehrmacht were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy) and the Luftwaffe. The designation "Wehrmacht" replaced the previously used term Reichswehr and was the manifestation of the Nazi regime's efforts to rearm Germany to a greater extent than the Treaty of Versailles permitted.

The Kama tank school was a secret training school for tank commanders operated by the German Reichswehr near Kazan, Soviet Union. It operated from 1929 to 1933. The school was established in order to allow the German military to circumvent the military restrictions on tank research spelled out in the Treaty of Versailles. Apart from Kama, for the same reason Germany also operated the Lipetsk fighter-pilot school (1926–33) and a gas warfare facility, Gas-Testgelände Tomka (1928–31).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4th Centre for Combat Employment and Retraining of Personnel</span> Military unit

The 4th Centre for Combat Employment and Retraining of Personnel VVS of the Russian Air Force is a research, training, and instructional centre. It was formed at Tambov on 19 April 1953. In 1954 it was transferred to Voronezh Malshevo and 1960 to the Lipetsk air base, and then was transformed into the 4th Centre deployment and retraining flight personnel of the Air Force. It was part of the Air Forces of the Moscow Military District for decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomka gas test site</span> Covert joint Soviet-German chemical weapons research facility, operational 1926-1933

Tomka gas test site was a secret chemical weapons testing facility near a place codenamed Volsk-18, 20 km off Volsk, now Shikhany, Saratov Oblast, Russia created within the framework of German-Soviet military cooperation to circumvent the demilitarization provisions of the post-World War I Treaty of Versailles. It was co-directed by Yakov Fishman, and German chemists Alexander von Grundherr and Ludwig von Sicherer. It operated during 1926-1933.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (in German) German Federal Archives, accessed 1 July 2011
  2. ↑ Schulterschluss mit Moskau (in German) Der Spiegel : Solidarity with Moscow, accessed 1 July 2011
  3. ↑ Geheimvertrag mit der Roten Armee (in German) Der Spiegel : Secret contracts with the Red Army, accessed 1 July 2011
  4. ↑ Gooch, John (2012). Military Deception and Strategic Surprise!. United States: Routledge. p. 31. ISBN   9780714632025.
  5. ↑ Nowarra, Heinz (1980). Die Verbotenen Flugzeuge 1921-1935 (in German). Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag. p. 21. ISBN   3-87943-709-2.

Coordinates: 52°36′44″N39°35′05″E / 52.6122°N 39.5847°E / 52.6122; 39.5847

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.