Highway strip (military aviation)

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Hercules C130 landing on Autobahn DoD DF-ST-84-09441 — A C-130 Hercules lands on the A29 Autobahn near Ahlhorn during military exercise 'Highway 84'.

Overview[]

Autobahn Notlandeplatz A29 Ahlhorn DoD DF-ST-85-05075 — Highway strip on Autobahn A29 near Ahlhorn

A highway strip or road runway is a section of a highway or motorway that is specially built to allow landing of (mostly) military aircraft and to serve as a military airbase. These were built to allow military aircraft to operate even if their airbases, the most vulnerable targets in any war, are destroyed.

History[]

The first highway strips were constructed near the end of World War II in Nazi Germany, where the well developed Reichsautobahn system allowed aircraft to use the motorways. In the Cold War highway strips were systematically built on both sides of the Iron Curtain, mostly in both halves of Germany, but also in North Korea, Taiwan, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Poland, Pakistan and Czechoslovakia.

The idea[]

RAB mit Flugzeugen — German Reichsautobahn strip in World War II (spring 1945), with Ju 88 heavy fighters parked on the shoulders.

They were built to allow some military aircraft to operate even if their airbases, the most vulnerable targets in any war, are destroyed during a war. It could also handle a few light civilian aircraft in a time of civil crisis.

Only a 1 or 2 were needed to set up rudimentary support systems such as some fule tankers, a anti-aircraft units, a weapons stock pile, a mechanic's station, a perimeter fence, a security booth, a medical post and some tents.

Design[]

The strips are usually 2 to 3.5 kilometres (1.2 to 2.2 mi) long straight sections of the highway, where any central reservation is made of crash barriers that can be removed quickly (in order to allow airplanes to use the whole width of the road), and other features of an airbase (taxiways, airport ramps) can be built. The road will need a thicker than normal surface and a solid concrete base.

The specialized equipment of a typical airfield are stored somewhere nearby and only carried there when airfield operations start. The highway strips can be converted from motorways to airbases typically within 24 to 48 hours. The road would need to be swept to remove all debris before any aircraft movement could take place. In the case of Finnish road airbases, the space needed for landing aircraft is reduced by means of a wire, similar to the CATOBAR system used on some aircraft carriers.

Highway strip (military aviation)

Contents

Overview[]

History[]

The idea[]

Design[]

Also see[]

Sources[]

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