Established in 1937, in the Austrian state of Styria, the air base at Zeltweg is the largest Austrian air force base. It is home to the Austrian air force’s Eurofighter Typhoon fleet, Austrian air force museum and the AirPower airshow.
According to terms established at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the Austrian army was drastically reduced in size and was not permitted to have an air arm.
By the mid 1920s, Austria had begun rebuilding its air force. Initially it was done in secret; however, the post World War One restrictions were eased by the mid 1930s and Austria was permitted to have an air force.
The initial role of the base at Zeltweg was as a flight training facility. Regular flight operations did not begin until late 1938, by which time Germany had annexed Austria and taken control of the nation’s military bases.
Under German occupation, the base at Zeltweg saw a great deal of development. Improvements included replacing the grass runways and taxiways with ones made of concrete.
In anticipation of Allied bomber attacks, a Luftwaffe fighter squadron was transfered to Zeltweg from France in 1943. From October of 1944, the base was targeted by bombers 15 times. However, none of the bomber attacks did serious damage to the base.
By the end of 1944, more Luftwaffe units had been moved to Zeltweg to repel the westward advance of the Soviet army.
The Soviet army siezed the air base, but transfered it to the British military after the control of Austria was formally divided between the Allied occupying powers.
British Army and Royal Air Force units were stationed at Zeltweg, though the last RAF flying unit left the base in 1947 and it was retained as a reserve airfield.
With the Austrian Independence Treaty establishing Austria as a federal republic in 1955, full control of the air base was placed in Austrian authority once more.
The base resumed its flight training role and also became a base for fighter aircraft.
In 1959, an auto racing track was built at the base and was used until 1969 to host the Austrian Grand Prix.
In 1967, the base was officially renamed Hinterstoisser Air Base. This was in honour of Austrian aviation pioneer, Franz Hinterstoisser (1863 – 1933).
Major renovations were made to the base facilities to accomodate the Austrian air force’s Saab J-35 Draken fleet, which arrived at the base in 1988. Another major renovation came in the early 2000s to prepare the base for the incoming fleet of Eurofighter Typhoons, which arrived at the base in 2007.
Since 1997, the base has been host to the AirPower airshow. The airshow is the largest in Europe and takes place every two or three years. It draws numerous partcipants, both civilian and military.
For more detailed historical information on the base and about Franz Hinterstoisser, The following link will take you to a dedicated page about the base on the denkmal-heer.at website.
Pickled Wings 