Third Reich Test Base

摘要

The attractive seaside town of Travemunde, 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 east-west Mecklenburger Lanstrasse road and the wooded Priwall peninsular holds the answer. Nestled in the local nature reserve, where the energetic Germans hike and bike, is where the almost forgotten design factory of Caspar-Werke 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 Germany's top-secret research establishments, Erprobungstelle Travemunde. (Abbreviated to E-Stelle, Erprobungstelle translates as test centre.)