Münster Osnabrück International Airport

Münster Osnabrück International Airport, Flughafen Münster/Osnabrück in German, is a minor international airport in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located near Greven, 25km north of Münster and 35km south of Osnabrück. The airport serves the area of the northern Ruhrgebiet, southern Lower Saxony, Emsland, Westphalia and parts of the Netherlands and features flights to some European city and leisure destinations.HistoryEarly yearsOn 21 December 1966 the cities of Münster, Osnabrück, and Greven as well as the districts of Münster and Tecklenburg founded the Münster/Osnabrück Airport GmbH.In mid 1967 the German authorities approached the British Army for assistance in building an airfield to serve the Münster-Osnabrück area. An airstrip existed at Greven, but the site was heavily wooded and included one badly drained and swampy area, and was within a few hundred metres of the Dortmund-Ems Canal which had been bombed during World War Two and whmere the presence of unexploded bombs was suspected. By March 1968 it was agreed that the British Army would clear and level an area 2120 metres long between 400 and 500 metres wide and produce a base of clean sand 1520 metres long and 50 metres wide, for a runway to be used by aircraft of Trident and BAC 1-11 size. Work began in April 1968. 16 Field Squadron Royal Engineers (RE) provided the project control and RE units from all over the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) but particularly 43 Field Support Squadron RE provided manpower and plant.