Army Aviation

In 1954, Colonel Horst Pape, the Army’s advisor on Army aviation matters, was tasked with planning the build-up of an Army aviation corps. The first flying unit of Army aviation was established at Niedermendig in May 1957. Also starting in 1957, the first units were equipped with the Bell 47 G-2 helicopter and the Do 27 fixed-wing aircraft. In addition, the following helicopters were procured for testing: 14 Bell 47 GH13, 6 SO 1221 Djinn, 10 Skeeter Mark 6, Bristol 171 Sycamore, 28 Vertol H-21 and 26 Sikorsky S-58 (later H-34) aircraft.

By 1959, the Do 27 liaison aircraft had already been replaced with 130 newly procured SA-318 Alouette II helicopters. These would remain in use for many years as training helicopters at the Army Aviation School. This school, which was to become Army aviation’s central training facility, was established in Niedermendig in 1959 before relocating to Bückeburg in 1960, where it remains to this day.

The Bell UH-1D was first introduced as a training aircraft at the Army Aviation School in 1963 and then fielded as a transport helicopter in 1967.

1972 saw the procurement of the Sikorsky CH-53 helicopter, which replaced the Sikorsky H-34. Since then, the CH-53 has seen use in virtually all operations abroad and proved its worth in many disaster assistance and emergency relief missions. According to current plans, this helicopter type, which has by now undergone several modernisation and life extension measures, will remain in use until 2030. As part of the concentration of helicopter capabilities in 2012, the CH-53 helicopter fleet was transferred to the Air Force.

The numerical superiority of the Warsaw Pact tank fleet prompted the Bundeswehr to procure the Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) Bo 105 aircraft and refit it with HOT guided missiles that could defeat tanks. The first regiments to use the newly introduced antitank helicopters were established in 1979: 16 Regiment at Celle, 26 Regiment at Roth and 36 Regiment at Fritzlar. In addition, the MBB Bo 105 was employed as a liaison and observation helicopter, without additional armament in this role.

In the wake of reunification, the Bundeswehr initially took over the fleet of Mil Mi-8 and Mil Mi-24 helicopters fielded by East Germany’s National People’s Army, or NVANationale Volksarmee, but eventually decommissioned them. The NVANationale Volksarmee units incorporated into the Bundeswehr, 3 and 5 Attack Helicopter Wings, were reorganised into the 70, 80 and East Army Aviation Squadrons. In 1994, the newly established 3 Army Aviation Brigade in Mendig pooled, for the first time, all forces of the transport helicopter formations as well as almost all the observation and liaison squadrons. Previously, most of the Army aviation forces had been concentrated in what were known as Army Aviation Commands at the higher command echelons at corps level.

In 1997, 1 Air Mechanised Brigade was put into service at Fritzlar Army air base. With this step, the entire branch, whose exclusive focus had until then been on the performance of support tasks at the highest level but which, conceptually, was already prepared to introduce the new weapon systems Tiger and NHNATO-Helicopter-90, was transformed into an independently operating combat force. And when 1 Infantry Regiment was established as an organic element of this brigade, the Army, for the first time, would have rapidly deployable infantry forces with air manoeuvre capability at its disposal. Together with the brigade’s attack helicopters, these infantry forces were capable of airmobile combat from the air and on the ground. Rechristening the major unit as 1 Air Manoeuvre Brigade was a logical consequence of this expansion of its capability and mission spectrum.

In 2012, the concentration of helicopter capabilities constituted a turning point for the Army aviation branch, with far-reaching changes and cuts. The remaining 15 and 25 Medium Transport Helicopter Regiments at Rheine-Bentlage and Laupheim, respectively, were disbanded and the CH-53 helicopters were integrated into the Air Force. Today, the Air Force’s 64 Helicopter Wing continues to operate the aircraft at the Holzdorf-Schönewald and Laupheim garrisons. Moreover, structural changes led to a reduction of Army aviation personnel and materiel by more than 50 percent. The Bo 105 helicopters were pooled in Training Centre C in Celle and employed for training tasks and operational missions.

In 2016, the remaining Bo 105 helicopters were decommissioned and Training Centre C in Celle was disbanded. At the same time, most of the UH-1D aircraft were phased out as well, with just a small fleet of 18 helicopters concentrated at the Niederstetten garrison for the standing operational task of SARSearch and Rescue (search and rescue).