After a long debate

Brumowski airbase is renamed

(Bild: P. Huber)

Godwin Brumowski was considered the most successful fighter pilot of the Hungarian-Austrian monarchy with 35 confirmed successes in aerial combat. The airbase in Langenlebarn, Lower Austria, was named after him. But now another name is being sought. The reason: Brumowski's role during the February battles in 1934.

During the fighting between the Schutzbund, the armed arm of the Social Democratic Party, and the troops of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß, who later established an authoritarian "corporative state" after the elimination of parliament, Brumowski carried out an air raid on the embattled Goethehof in Vienna. For this reason, the name of the army base near Tulln, which has existed since 1967, has long been considered "historically questionable".

According to a report on the Ö1 "Mittagsjournal" on Tuesday, the military-historical memorial commission is now in favor of a different name, and the army ministry has given its approval in principle. Subsequently, a three-pronged proposal for the new name is to be drawn up.

Concerns about changing the airfield code dispelled
If the chairman of the commission, Dieter Binder, has his way, a deserving representative of the Second Republic's armed forces will be the future name giver. So far, the project has been delayed by concerns within the armed forces.

Two Black Hawk helicopters from Brumowski Air Base in Langenlebarn

(Bild: HBF/Gunter Pusch)

In particular, reference was made to the possible need to amend the relevant flight charts. These reservations have now been dispelled by the Commission, as Binder explained in an interview with ORF radio. The international airfield code for the airbase - LOXT - is "completely independent" of the actual naming and will be retained anyway. From the point of view of the Monument Commission, therefore, nothing stands in the way of a renaming.