🇨🇭 Dübendorf Air Base

Dübendorf Air Base (ICAO: LSMD) is a military airfield located northeast of Dübendorf, east of Zurich, Switzerland.

Type of Facility and Operations: The air base is owned by the Swiss Air Force and serves Dübendorf. It is home to Lufttransport Staffel 3 and Lufttransport Staffel 4 (Air Transport Squadron 3 and 4), operating Eurocopter EC635, AS332 Super Puma, AS532 Cougar, De Havilland Canada Twin Otter, Beechcraft 1900, and Beechcraft Super King Air aircraft. It is also a home base for the PC-7 Team and the Super Puma/Cougar Display Team. Other Swiss military aircraft, such as the Pilatus PC-6 Turbo-Porter and Pilatus PC-9, are frequently seen, along with occasional Dassault Falcon 900, Cessna Citation Excel, Armasuisse Diamond DA42, and Pilatus PC-12. The base is also used by friendly nations for exercises and joint missions. Dübendorf also provides parking for private business jets and government jets during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

The facility also houses the Flieger-Flab-Museum. Occupants include the Swiss Air Force, JuAir, Rega (air rescue), Skyguide, Solar Impulse, and Motorfluggruppe Zürich. The air base has two runways: one asphalt runway measuring 2,355 meters (7,726 ft) and one grass runway measuring 650 meters (2,133 ft).

Notable Features or History: The search for a suitable airfield site began in 1909, with the first airshow held on October 22, 1910. Since 1914, it has been used by the Swiss Air Force. From 1919, it also served civil airlines, including Ad Astra Aero (predecessor of Swissair) and Swissair from 1932. In 1948, civil aviation moved to the newly opened Zurich Airport, and Dübendorf became a purely military airfield.

During World War II, Dübendorf held interned foreign military aircraft, including approximately 120 USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator bombers, and one Luftwaffe Me 262 jet fighter. In 2015, the Airbus A310 Zero-G reduced gravity aircraft flew from Dübendorf Air Base for its first operational flight.

Current Status: The military jet operations at Dübendorf Air Base ceased at the end of 2005. The Swiss Air Force continues to use the airfield for fixed-wing aircraft on runway 11-29 and for helicopters. It serves as a location for air operations, flight training, air transport services for the federal government, and command and control facilities for the Air Force. The air base is also co-used by Rega, the Association of Friends of the Swiss Air Force (VFL) for flights with vintage aircraft (Ju-52), and the Foundation Museum and Historical Material of the Swiss Air Force (SMHMLW) for operating a flight museum, as well as the Zurich Cantonal Police. The air traffic control center ("skyguide, Air Navigation Service Center Zurich") and the Air Operations Center (AOC) are also located there.

The Federal Council decided in 2014 that the airfield should continue to operate for civil aviation, primarily for business travel, to relieve Zurich Airport and preserve the area as a land reserve. The existing rescue and emergency base for blue-light organizations will continue. The military federal base will operate as an independent facility, especially for helicopters, with limited continued use of the civil airfield for military fixed-wing operations. The fixed-wing aircraft of the federal air transport service and swisstopo remain stationed at Dübendorf. The conversion of the airfield into a civil airfield was anchored in the Spatial Planning Concept for Transport, Aviation Infrastructure (SIL) in 2016. Military jet flights are excluded. Approximately 7,600 military flight movements are planned annually, divided into 6,100 helicopter movements and 1,500 fixed-wing aircraft movements.

*Sources researched: vtg.admin.ch, en.wikipedia.org, ig-zfdn.ch, globalmilitary.net*