The 22nd Air Base is an Air Force Base

Air Force Base

An Air Force Base is a military airbase of any of a number of air forces, such as the United States Air Force or South African Air Force ....

 east of Malbork

Malbork

Malbork is a town in northern Poland in the Żuławy region , with 38,478 inhabitants . Situated in the Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, it was previously assigned to Elbląg Voivodeship...

, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, near the village of Królewo Malborskie

Królewo Malborskie

Królewo Malborskie is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Stare Pole, within Malbork County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately south-west of Stare Pole, east of Malbork, and south-east of the regional capital Gdańsk.Before 1945 the area was part of...

. It was officially constituted on 1 January 2001, replacing the disbanded 41st Fighter Aviation Regiment. The main unit based there is the 41st Air Tactical Squadron

41st Tactical Squadron

41st Tactical Squadron is a fighter squadron of Polish Air Force established in 2001 in Malbork, Poland. Squadron is stationed in 22nd Air Base. The squadron operates MiG-29 jet fighters acquired from the German Luftwaffe. Previously these aircraft served with Jagdgeschwader 73 stationed at...

 flying MiG-29 fighters.

History

The Marienburg, Germany, area had a 1929 civilian airfield near Königsdorf

Królewo, Pomeranian Voivodeship

Królewo is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Stare Pole, within Malbork County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately west of Stare Pole, east of Malbork, and south-east of the regional capital Gdańsk....

 that was acquired by the Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....

 in 1934. Near the airfield was a 100 acre (0.404686 km²) Focke-Wulf plant that had been moved from Bremen

Bombing of Bremen in World War II

The Bombing of Bremen in World War II by the Royal Air Force and the Eighth Air Force targeted strategic targets in the state of Bremen, which had heavy anti-aircraft artillery but only 35 fighter aircraft in the area. In addition to Wesermünde/Bremerhaven, targets were also in Farge and...

 and which produced approximately half of all Focke-Wulf Fw 190

Focke-Wulf Fw 190

The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger was a German Second World War single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s. Powered by a radial engine, the 190 had ample power and was able to lift larger loads than its well-known counterpart, the Messerschmitt Bf 109...

s, and the Stalag XX-B

Stalag XX-B

Marienburg Stalag XXB or Stalag 20B Marienburg Danzig was a Nazi POW camp. Located near Marienburg, it was originally a hutted and tented camp with double boundary fence and had watchtowers. British, Poles and Serbs were held here in 1940. An administration block including a hospital was erected...

 POW camp was nearby.http://www.gps-practice-and-fun.com/stalag-20b.html A US Eighth Air Force

Eighth Air Force

The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....

 air raid

Strategic bombing

Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...

 of the on October 9, 1943, by 96 B-17 Flying Fortresses was called the Marienburg raid by Life magazine. The plant was attacked a 2nd time by 98 B-17s on April 9, 1944.
Post-war

Post-war

A post-war period or postwar period is the interval immediately following the ending of a war and enduring as long as war does not resume. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum when a war between the same parties resumes at a later date...

, Marienburg, Germany, became Malbork

Malbork

Malbork is a town in northern Poland in the Żuławy region , with 38,478 inhabitants . Situated in the Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, it was previously assigned to Elbląg Voivodeship...

, Poland; and Soviet Air force units were based there for a few years. In 1952 the 41st Fighter Aviation Regiment

Air Force of the Polish Army

The Air Force of the Polish Army , unofficially known as the People's Polish Air Force was the name of the Soviet-controlled Polish Air Force in the USSR between 1943 and 1947 created alongside the Polish People's Army , a subordinate to the Red Army...

 was formed to be based there, initially equipped with Mig-15 fighters, later replaced with Mig-17s, and from 1964 Mig-21s. In 2001 the regiment was dissolved and its ground and air components separated, to form the 22 Air Base and 41st Air Tactical Squadron respectively. In 2003 the last Mig-21s were retired, and in 2004 the squadron was rearmed with refurbished Mig-29s obtained from Germany.