Test Base

AIRFIELDS PRIWALL

Third Reich

Barry Wheeler visits the site of the wartime Luftwaffes test and trials base on the Baltic

he attractive seaside town

of Travemnde, which
overlooks the Baltic coast
to the northeast of Hamburg, has
been connected with German
aeronautical development since
the 1920s. Yet there is little to
indicate this popular holiday resort
has such a distinguished past.
But take the ferry eastwards
across the busy River Trave,
journey briefly along the main eastwest Mecklenburger Lanstrasse
road and the wooded Priwall
peninsular holds the answer.

110 FLYPAST June 2016

Nestled in the local nature reserve,

where the energetic Germans
hike and bike, is where the almost
forgotten design factory of CasparWerke was established in 1921.
Fliegerweg (Flyer Way) is the
only road sign to indicate this
lost history. Nothing survives
of the original hangars where
Dr Karl Caspar helped restart
German aviation after World
War One. Continue eastwards
along Mecklenburger Lanstrasse,
turn south and, amid post-war
residential housing, stand the

remaining buildings of one of

wartime Germanys top-secret
research establishments,
Erprobungstelle Travemnde.
(Abbreviated to E-Stelle,
Erprobungstelle translates as test
centre.)

Factory interlude
As Germany emerged from the
restrictions on military design
and production imposed by
the Versailles Treaty, CasparWerke and the E-Stelle inevitably
combined. Karl Caspar, pilot and

designer, formed his first company

in 1911 at Fuhlsbttel, Hamburg,
where he built Etrich and Rumplertype Taube monoplanes for
Imperial Germanys air service.
Caspar-Werke was established
at Priwall in 1921. Two main
construction halls and a line of
wooden hangars were erected
and a series of designs emerged,
including a modified W.29 seaplane
developed by a young Ernst
Heinkel before he fell out with
Caspar and left in May 1922.
Through the 1920s, a range

e
The Caspar-Werke factory in the mid-1920s.
ALL VIA AUTHOR UNLESS NOTED

Two main construction halls and a line of wooden hangars were erected and
a series of designs emerged, including a modified W.9 seaplane developed by a
young Ernst Heinkel...

Children paddling while an engineer makes

final adjustments to the engine of a Heinkel
He 1 of Caspar-Werke in the mid-1920s.

June 2016 FLYPAST 111

AIRFIELDS PRIWALL
Rough treatment
In trials to find a multipurpose design for minelaying, torpedo-bombing and
reconnaissance missions, the Heinkel He 115 and Blohm und Voss Ha 140
competed for an order from the RLM.
The decision went in favour of Heinkel and was influenced by an accident
to the second prototype Ha 140 in January 1938. During rough water trials,
the starboard engine dislodged from its mountings on landing, the propeller
tearing open the top of the float.

The second prototype Ha 140 on beaching gear following its accident at Priwall in January 1938.

of types emerged, from the

three-seat CLE.11 monoplane and
ten-seat CLE.12 airliner in 1924,
to the later CJ.14 biplane fighter
and the C.35 mailplane. With
sales mostly in single figures, the
enterprise was officially liquidated
in 1928. The factory and staff were
taken over to form part of the
Travemnde seaplane test centre
and the airfield, far from closing,
was expanded and upgraded. The

Newly laid concrete fronting the large

seaplane hangar at the marine base on
Priwall in 1927. Moored at a new jetty is a
Do R four-engined flying boat.

large, flat grass area on the Priwall

peninsula was considered ideal to
support the secret base.

Maritime giants
With military operations forbidden,
the Navy command of the
Reichswehr (Germanys military
administration 1919-1935) was
nonetheless keen to re-establish a
maritime air arm. An experimental
seaplane test and trials unit
The Rohrbach Romar with raised tailplane.

A Junkers A 50 Junior floatplane in front of US Navy Vought O3U-1 floatplanes of Battleship

Division 2 on a visit to the Travemnde base in 1930.

112 FLYPAST June 2016

(Seeflugzeug-Erprobungsstelle),
was set up under former CasparWerke director, Hermann Moll.
By the end of 1927 a large
seaplane hangar, designed
by Hamburg architect Fritz
Schumacher, capable of containing
the mammoth Dornier Do X flying
boat, was erected. Jetties and
concrete ramps were constructed
for maritime aircraft and the
airfield was expanded.

Soon the base was working on

some of the latest flying boats and
seaplanes, including the Rohrbach
Romar, Dornier Do R and Heinkel
HD 30. Junkers flew its large
single-engined, float-equipped Ju
52 floatplane to Travemnde for
assessment. Redesigned as a trimotor, it was to become the famous
pre-war airliner and wartime
transport that helped to pioneer
assaults by airborne forces.

The second prototype Heinkel He 59, D-2215,

was tested at Priwall in 1932.

Wreckage of the Heinkel He 60, the first fatal accident at the E-Stelle, December 1931.

The Romar, a large three-engined

flying boat, arrived at Priwall in
the summer of 1928. Tests proved
that the fin and rudder had to
be redesigned and the tailplane
raised; after which it displayed
good handling and was capable of
operating in high seas. Designed
by Adolf Rohrbach, it was one of
a number of types produced by
his company, but they made little

impression in the inter-war years.

The E-Stelle suffered its first
casualty when test pilot Karl
Wiborg was killed flying the
second Heinkel He 60 prototype
on December 16, 1931. Wiborg
perished during diving trials, the
aircraft crashing in front of the air
traffic building. Both the singleengined He 60 and the He.59 twin
became the first floatplanes tested
at Travemnde with military roles
in prospect.
The giant, 12-engined, Do X made
two visits to Travemnde in 1932;
the first on July 22. The second
time, on August 27, prompted much
local excitement when it was taxied
onto a Flender floating dry dock
to dominate the foreshore while
receiving repair and maintenance.
Also undergoing trials in 1932 was
the second prototype He 59. This
was originally built as a landplane
with a wheeled undercarriage, but
with abandonment of the landbased version, the wheels were
exchanged for two large floats,
each containing fuel. In 1936, the
type became the first large coastal
patrol seaplane to enter service.

End of pretence
With the National Socialists
gaining power in 1933, the
pretence that Germany was
operating only commercial aircraft
was dropped and two years later
civil flights to Priwall ceased. The
area became the highly secret

...a large seaplane hangar, capable of containing the mammoth Dornier

Do X flying boat, was erected. Jetties and concrete ramps were constructed for
marine aircraft and the airfield was expanded

The 12-engined Do X on a floating dry dock at

Travemnde in August 1932.

June 2016 FLYPAST 113

AIRFIELDS PRIWALL
The second of three prototypes of the fourengined Blohm und Voss Ha 139, D-AJEY
Nordwind, was tested at the E-Stelle.

The second prototype of the tri-motor Bv

138, under test at Priwall.

Pioneer helicopter

E-Stelle directly subordinate

to the German Air Ministry
(Reichsluftfahrtministerium RLM)
in Berlin.
An influx of technicians and
engineers took the personnel
strength to more than 1,300 and
more hangars and workshops
were created. The large grass
airfield was used for experimental
operations, including competitive
trials between the Messerschmitt
Bf 109V-2 and the Heinkel He 112V1 to determine which fighter would
equip the newly formed Luftwaffe.
Meanwhile the slipways hosted the
Do 18, Do 24, He 114, He 115 and
Blohm und Voss Bv 138.
Dorniers Do 18 was a longserving type at Travemnde.
These began with catapult trials
of the third prototype, D-ABYM
Aeolus, from the 2,000-ton
Ostmark at the base before joining
Deutsche Luft Hansa in May 1936.
Surviving examples, equipped
with FuG 200 radar, flew patrols
looking for Soviet submarines in
the Baltic Sea in 1945.

114 FLYPAST June 2016

A major programme was the

testing of the tri-motor Bv
138. Unconventional in layout
and exhibiting instability and
directional problems in prototype
form, the second example
underwent major design changes
that eliminated some of the faults.
Only by the third production
series did the Bv 138 overcome
its weaknesses and become a
tolerably acceptable long-range
reconnaissance flying boat.
As the workload increased,
communications by air between
Priwall and other experimental
establishments was requested.
Two Focke-Wulf Fw 58 Weihe light
transports were supplied by the
RLM, the first arriving in July 1938.
In the technical offices and
laboratories, development
work included new navigation
equipment, wireless
modernisation and improved aerial
cameras. German bureaucracy
was never very far away and the
RLM regularly ordered changes to
the organisation at Travemnde,

One of the few types found intact by the British at Travemnde in May 1945
was the partially dismantled remains of the Fl 282 V20 prototype. The Fl 282
featured two inter-meshing rotor blades that meant the type didnt require a
tail rotor to counter the torque of the main blades. This helicopter was shipped
to the UK for flight trials, but was never reassembled.
It was passed on to the College of Aeronautics at Cranfield, Bedfordshire.
Today, it is with the Midland Air Museum at Coventry Airport.

often to the extreme frustration of

the staff.
Major trials involved the testing
of types for use aboard the
aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin.
Arrester gear was laid down at
the airfield and a catapult system
installed along the waterfront
near Ptenitz. Competing designs
for the multi-purpose attack/
torpedo-bomber role (the Fieseler
Fi 167 and Junkers Ju 87C) as well

as the suitability of the Bf 109T

as a carrier-based fighter were
trialled. All of this was to no avail
as the ship never entered service.
As war operations increased, the
E-Stelle was ordered to support
the German forces invading
Norway in 1940 and test pilots
flew three early Bv 138s and
a single diesel-engined Do 24
prototype loaded with supplies
to Narvik. One of the former was

shot down by anti-aircraft fire

and the crew captured by the
Norwegians.
Test-flying continued and, in
1941, the Do 24 was assessed
for the air-sea rescue role as a
replacement for the obsolete
He 59. The first Do 24 to enter
Luftwaffe service came from
the Aviolanda production line
in Holland. E-Stelle test pilots
visited France on a number of

The two-seat Fieseler Fi 167 was tested

for possible use on the projected aircraft
carrier Graf Zeppelin.

Major trials involved the testing

of types for use aboard the aircraft
carrier Graf Zeppelin. Arrester gear
was laid down at the airfield and a
catapult system installed along the
waterfront near Ptenitz
A Messerschmitt Bf 109T being launched from
a catapult at Priwall in 1938.

The seaplane tender Friesenland moored

at Travemnde in September 1940 with a
camouflaged Dornier Do 26 mail-carrier on
the aft deck.

June 2016 FLYPAST 115

AIRFIELDS PRIWALL
The navalised Ju 87C featured folding wings
and an arrester hook.

Traces of Priwalls past

A number of former E-Stelle buildings

survived post-war changes having suffered
no wartime damage. By the original main
entrance, the circular office for wartime
pass registration is now incorporated into
a house.

The former headquarters block with its

distinctive clock is now the Seemannsschule
college administration building. The prewar view includes the large south hangar
located by the waterfront. It was demolished
in the 1950s.

Post-war, the E-Stelle hangars were pulled down, the concrete broken up and the area returned to
nature. In the distance is the hangar that previously dominated the site.

While being tested at Priwall, the seventh prototype Bv 222 suffered a fire in the starboard outer Jumo diesel engine. The crew managed to put out
the flames with one of them standing on the wing with an extinguisher.

116 FLYPAST June 2016

occasions to assess both of the

six-engined Latcore 521/522
and the SE 200 transatlantic flying
boats for use by the Luftwaffe.
In 1942, trials took place with
experimental rotorcraft, the
Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 rotorkite
and Anton Flettners Fl 282
helicopter, much of the testing
taking place from ships and
submarines before trials were
transferred to the E-Stelle at
Rechlin, northwest of Berlin.

Countdown to
surrender
Unusually, the airfield was almost
ignored by Allied bombers. Only
one raid by RAF Halifaxes is
recorded, together with a low-level
diversionary attack by bombersupport Mosquitos on April
23-24, 1945, but damage, if any, is
unknown.
As the war turned against
Germany, fuel supplies became a
serious problem and in July 1944,
an order was received to cease
all work on seaplanes. Although
maritime aircraft were given a low
priority, the base still received an

occasional new type, one of the

last being the prototype Bv 222V-7
flying boat. This was fitted with
six Junkers Jumo 207C diesels in
place of the more standard BMW/
Bramo Fafnir radials.
Few test flights were achieved
before it suffered a fire in the
starboard outer Jumo unit. It was
brought in for a forced landing and
the crew managed to extinguish the
blaze.
Eventually, the
sizeable
machine was
dragged
out of
the water so
that
its engines could
be removed for transfer
to operational types. The Bv
222 proved one of a surprisingly
small number of almost complete
aircraft found by British troops
on May 3, 1945.
An advance party of 5 Kings
Reconnaissance Platoon
arrived to discover the
E-Stelle guarded by armed
German troops. This force was
holding back hundreds of refugees
heading west to cross the River
Trave, fearful of the advancing
Russians. Priwall was surrendered

to 5 Recce by Oberst von Heine

who informed the British that the
base was a repair station managed
by Blohm und Voss. Von Heine
claimed there were enough spares
to assemble up to 150 aircraft, a
comment believed to relate to a
recently established assembly line
for Focke-Wulf Fw 190s in one of
the large hangars.
On May 5, RAF Regiment
personnel arrived
and took over the
establishment,
followed
the
next day
by a Royal
Navy team keen to
discover any maritimerelated material. Soon after,
personnel of the RAFs 8401
Wing, responsible for the
disarmament of German
forces in the area, moved
in and began collecting
and destroying weapons
and unwanted equipment.
Part of the airfield became a
prison camp for 3,700 German
military personnel. When the
area was declared safe, the

establishment was turned into

a temporary centre for around
1,000 displaced Germans.
Today, what was the airfield
forms part of a wildlife park. The
long line of hangars that extended
along the waterfront was pulled
down soon after the surrender and
this area is now a sandy bay with
only a few stretches of concrete to
indicate its former use.
The headquarters and
administration buildings of the
E-Stelle survived and from the
late-1950s have been home to the
Seemannsschule, a maritime law
and merchant seamanship college.
The original air traffic building,
which also served as the Deutsche
Luft Hansa terminal in the 1930s,
withstood post-war demolition and
is now a private residence.
Recognition of the casualties
suffered by flying personnel
during nearly two decades
of experimental work is not
forgotten. Opposite the
former main entrance to the
establishment is a memorial
formed of a single propeller blade
atop a tall mast.

...trials took place with experimental rotorcraft, the Focke-Achgelis Fa 330

rotorkite and Anton Flettners Fl 282 helicopter, much of the testing taking
place from ships and submarines...

The single-seat Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 observation rotorkite under tow behind a U-boat. Tested
at Priwall, it was intended to extend a submarines beyond-the-horizon view.

June 2016 FLYPAST 117