Tour Report: Naval Air Station E.

Early in November 2020, it had been more than a month since our last tour, and our next vacation was still a week away. It was a Sunday, the weather was unusually good, and we felt the familiar urge to get out and explore. So we decided on a quick trip to visit a former naval air station not far from our hometown.

The airfield had been closed by the German Air Force in 2005. Since then, the site had been undergoing major changes: parts of it were being transformed into a solar park, while other areas were gradually being repurposed as a business and industrial zone. Because of that, we didn’t expect many untouched spots - or great photo opportunities.

The upside, however, was that the entire area was now publicly accessible. We could simply drive around, take our time, and see what was left of the base.

And the situation was pretty much exactly what we had expected: Several companies had already moved into the former aircraft shelters, parts of the runway had been turned into a solar field, and cattle grazed peacefully on the wide open land next to the control tower—an oddly surreal contrast to the site’s military past.

Our first stop was the parking area near the tower. We parked the car, set up our camping stove, and brewed a strong cup of coffee - one of those small rituals that instantly makes an exploration feel like an adventure.

After that, we started looking around. There was no way into the tower building itself, and the cattle in the nearby field made it impossible to get a closer look at the underground bunker next to it.

There were, however, two large bunkers nearby that we could at least approach. One was the electronic warfare bunker: a massive concrete block so large it even had its own vehicle ramp leading inside. The second bunker belonged to the supply and transport squadron of the local naval air wing. Unfortunately, I don’t know exactly what its function was - but it was almost as big as the first one. Judging by the vehicle ramp and the truck parking bays outside, it was most likely used for storage and logistics.

We started with the larger one - the electronic warfare center. Using the ramp, we were able to enter the bunker complex, and we even found an open door leading inside. Unfortunately, it only gave access to a small section containing part of the ventilation system. Climbing onto the roof would have been possible, but it didn’t feel safe enough at the time, so we decided against it.

The second bunker was tightly locked as well, with no chance of getting in.

So in terms of accessibility, this sunny Sunday in November 2020 wasn’t exactly a success. But we still had a fantastic little excursion: great weather, delicious coffee, and a few nice photos - even if most of them had to be taken from a distance.

To find out more about the history and to check out all the photos from this place, click the button below.

Tour Report: Soviet Airfield S.

As the final stop of our summer trip in 2020, my wife and I decided to return to the former Soviet airfield S., about four years after our first visit.

Back then, time had been short. We had only managed to explore the hangars and a few surrounding buildings. This time, we wanted to take things a bit slower and use the opportunity to explore more of the former garrison area.

The surroundings of the airfield had changed noticeably in the years since our last visit. A busy commercial zone had developed nearby, full of movement and everyday activity. Yet our old parking spot was still there — the same one we had used four years earlier, right next to the narrow footpath leading onto the airfield grounds. There was still no fence, no gate, nothing to suggest that access had changed. Reports from other photographers supported this impression, so we made our way in calmly and without haste.

We consciously skipped the buildings we already knew from our first visit in order to focus on new areas. It was another extremely hot midsummer day, and anyone familiar with former Soviet garrisons knows how vast these places can be. The distances between buildings are long, the paths exposed. Having at least a rough plan felt important — even if it was clear that we would inevitably deviate from it. After all, abandoned places have a habit of pulling you in unexpected directions.

Our exploration began in the large dining hall and the adjoining kitchen. From there, we moved on to the sports hall, discovered a small theater, and eventually stood in front of the well-known mural of Plotbot Ken. In another building, we unexpectedly came across yet another small theater, complete with stage and rows of seating — one of those quiet finds that make places like this so compelling.

We then spent some time wandering through the outdoor areas. Even in the height of summer, the grounds carried a distinct, almost post-apocalyptic atmosphere that we wanted to capture in our photographs.

Throughout the entire visit, we were completely alone. No other explorers, no workers, no passersby. In the oppressive midday heat, even birds and insects seemed to fall silent. The stillness gave the place a strangely suspended feeling, as if time itself had slowed down.

With a long walk still ahead of us, we eventually had to leave some areas unexplored. Even so, it turned into a deeply atmospheric and rewarding tour through this vast and fascinating site.

According to my information, the airfield was declared an official redevelopment area in February of this year, and initial steps toward preparing the site have already begun. A provider of lost-place photo tours removed the airfield from its program in March, which suggests that change is imminent. Looking back, our visit in the summer of 2020 was most likely our last chance to experience this place in its abandoned state.

To find out more about the history and to check out all the photos from this place, click the button below.

Tour Report: Soviet Garrison H. [Revisit]

The second location that we explored during our spontaneous tour in May of 2019 was an abandoned Soviet Garrison. I had visited the place, which had been built as part of an airfield by the Nazis in 1935/36, twice before in 2014 and 2015. For me, it is always interesting to see what happens to an abandoned building in long periods between visits. Is it still accessible at all? Has demolition or renovation started? If not, what is the condition, and how did the decay develop over the years? These are always the questions that I ask myself before a revisit.

In this case, not much had changed in the four years since my second visit.

The more or less "official" parking spot was still there, and there still were no real fences around the building. However, a lot of the windows and doors on the lower floor had been boarded up, so we had to look a little longer until we found an opening.

We climbed through a window and started walking the hallways of the curved, 500 meter long building.

The afternoon sun and the green trees in front of the windows projected beautiful patterns of light, shadow and color into the rooms. The decay was more intense than before - but then, after almost thirty years of deterioration, you can't really tell...

Towards the end our walkthrough, I decided to check out the basement one more time - and it was a good thing, too, because I did find a few Soviet documents as well as some propaganda posters. This was yet another proof that you really have to check everywhere if you want to find all the interesting stuff :)

To find out about the history of this place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.

Tour Report: Soviet Airfield "Hunter's Game"

We had successfully found and explored the command bunker of the local fighter division and were ready to head through the woods to explore the garrison part of the airfield. The bunker was at the far end of the airfield, so we had to walk for a while.

After a few hundred meters, we could see a figure between the trees. There was also a car not too far away. At first, we thought it was a forestry worker, but when we saw a few more men in the distance, we realized that there was something going on. There really wasn't any way to hide or take a long way to not be spotted, so we decided to play it openly and walk up to the guy as he saw us.

Our usual approach of being friendly didn't work, however. It turned out that there was a hunt going on, and we had just stumbled into it. The guy was pretty mad at us and became rather unfriendly. To make one thing clear: On the path that we used to enter the area, there were no locked gates, no "Do not enter" signs and no signs that there was a hunt going on - although the guy insisted that there were. His statements varied from "You've broken in!" over "You've ignored the signs!" (to which we answered that we would gladly show him that there were no signs) to "I'm calling the police!". We told him that he can surely call the police, but there were no grounds since it was an openly accessible area. Then he told us that if we each gave him twenty Euros, he would let us go. At that point, we just laughed and went back to the car. On the way, we checked if we had overlooked any signs, but there positively weren't any.

So much for exploring the garrison. But we didn't want to go home empty-handed, so we drove around to the other part of the airfield with the runway, airplane shelters and various workshops. This part of the area, too, was easily accessible, so we took our time to explore everything we could find - making sure that we stayed far away from the hunting party.

Well, at least we saw parts of what we had come for - and some parts of the airfield hopefully still remain to be explored some time in the future.

To find out about the history of this place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.

Tour Report: Soviet Command Bunker P.

Our second tour in January of 2019 took us yet again into the realm of the Cold War. We had planned to explore an abandoned Soviet airfield in the former GDR along with two command bunkers together with our friends from Urbex & Lost Places, North Urbex and Lichtbeschatter.

We met early a few kilometers away from the airfield for a first strategy meeting, and we decided to try the front entrance first. There is a museum on a part of the old airfield, and although it is closed during the winter season, there may have been a chance to take an easy way in. We didn't get lucky. The gate was locked, and there wasn't anyone to be seen that we might have asked if we can have a look around, so we had to find another way in. It was the long way; we had to take a dirt road alongside a field until we got to the outer perimeter of the airfield. We walked along the concrete wall until we found an opening, and we were in. We suspected that we were pretty close to the bunker that was on the premises of the airfield (the other was a few kilometers away), so we started looking. Since we didn't have an exact location, we had to search for a while, but then we found it.

The access structure wasn't easy to spot if you weren't looking for it - I think that if you'd look for it during the summer, it would be completely covered by vegetation. The bunker had apparently been sealed at some point, but had later been opened again by copper thieves. There was only a small hole to slip through to get in. Inside, we had to climb over some concrete rubble, and we were in.

There was a little bit of water in the bunker, and I guess that if it had been raining more in the weeks before, there would have been a lot more - in the summer, this must be a breeding ground for mosquitos. The copper thieves had really done their "job"; nothing much was left of the communications or ventilation equipment - and everything else was moldy and decayed due to the water inside the bunker.

Still, we took our time to check out all the rooms, before we climbed back out and started making our way through the forest to the remains of the airfield's garrison.

To find out about the history of this place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.