History
The Marienburg, Germany, area had a 1929 civilian airfield near Königsdorf that was acquired by the Luftwaffe in 1934. Near the airfield was a 100-acre (0.40 km2) Focke-Wulf plant that had been moved from Bremen and which produced approximately half of all Focke-Wulf Fw 190s, and the Stalag XX-B POW camp was nearby. A US Eighth Air Force air raid of the on October 9, 1943, by 96 B-17 Flying Fortresses was called the Marienburg raid by Life magazine. The plant was attacked a 2nd time by 98 B-17s on April 9, 1944.
For the FMPU film which includes footage of the Marienburg raid in 1943, see Target for Today.Post-war, Marienburg, Germany, became Malbork, Poland; and Soviet Air force units were based there for a few years. In 1952 the 41st Fighter Aviation Regiment was formed to be based there, initially equipped with Mig-15 fighters, later replaced with Mig-17s, and from 1964 Mig-21s. In 2001 the regiment was dissolved and its ground and air components separated, to form the 22 Air Base and 41st Air Tactical Squadron respectively. In 2003 the last Mig-21s were retired, and in 2004 the squadron was rearmed with refurbished Mig-29s obtained from Germany.
Read more about this topic: 22nd Air Base
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“Social history might be defined negatively as the history of a people with the politics left out.”
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“Most events recorded in history are more remarkable than important, like eclipses of the sun and moon, by which all are attracted, but whose effects no one takes the trouble to calculate.”
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