To my big surprise I received 4 QSL cards, the real stuff, by mail, from the Deutsch Flugsicherung. I sent my reception reports in 2023… 2 years ago. But they were worth waiting for:
The first one was for NDB NOR on 372 kHz. This beacon belongs to the Nordholz Naval Airbase. Or in proper German: “Fliegerhorst Nordholz”. I like this “Horst” as it translates as “Nest of a predatory bird”, although I recognize that since WW2 it suffers a bit from a certain connotation.
Fliegerhorst Nordholz stands as one of Germany’s oldest aviation facilities, with its origins tracing back to December 17, 1912, when the Imperial German Navy established it as a key site for naval aviation. The base was initially serving as a major airship port for Zeppelins during World War I. It housed units for both the Navy and Army, supporting reconnaissance and bombing missions with rigid airships like the famous Zeppelin L 3 making early landings there.
After the war, in compliance with the Treaty of Versailles, several Zeppelins were destroyed on-site by their crews in 1919. The interwar period saw shifts in control, and during the 1930s, the Luftwaffe repurposed and expanded the site under code names like “Neckar,” using it for fighter and other operations throughout World War II. Post-1945, the base fell under American occupation briefly, hosting U.S. fighter units like P-47 Thunderbolts before being handed to the RAF, which dismantled much of the infrastructure.
Today, in 2026, Nordholz remains the central hub of the German Navy’s Marinefliegerkommando (Naval Air Command), hosting Marinefliegergeschwader 3 “Graf Zeppelin” and Marinefliegergeschwader 5. Marinefliegergeschwader 3 operates Lockheed P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft (with the transition to the advanced P-8A Poseidon underway, as the first examples arrived in late 2025) alongside Dornier 228NG for pollution control and surveillance. Marinefliegergeschwader 5 handles helicopter operations, including the NH90 Sea Lion for transport and the new NH90 Sea Tiger for anti-submarine and anti-surface roles, with deliveries progressing to replace the aging Sea Lynx fleet.
