Dispute over airbase

Soldiers want to remain loyal to “their Brumowski”

Austro-Hungarian fighter pilot Godwin Brumowski in front of the airbase in Langenlebarn (still) named after him(Bild: P. Huber Krone KREATIV,)

As the "home base" of the Black Hawk squadron and the new Leonardo helicopters, Brumowski Air Base likes to make a name for itself. Recently, however, the barracks in Langenlebarn near Tulln in Lower Austria ran into turbulence because of its namesake. However, the renaming sought by a historical commission has not gone down well at all locally.

Godwin Brumowski is something like the Red Baron of Austrian aviation history. With 35 confirmed aerial victories, he was the most successful imperial and royal air pilot of the First World War. His "Albatross" was even more memorable than Manfred von Richthofen's identical biplane due to the skull and crossbones painted on it. It's no wonder that the Austrian army erected a monument to him by naming an air base after him. But this is now causing quite a stir.