Later, it was a key defensive airfield as part of the Defence of the Reich campaign where Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters assigned to the field intercepted Allied bombers attacking Germany.

Official construction began in the late summer under the code name Höhenflugzentrale Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule (Altitude Flight Central of the German Airline Pilot School).

It was, however, a school only in name because the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, did not permit Germany to have a military air force.

Although the town was damaged significantly during World War II, many of these houses and barracks still exist and are in use as private homes and apartments.

The bomber unit remained until August 1939, when at the brink of World War II it was reassigned to Ansbach where it engaged in operations over Poland.

Beginning in 1944, Giebelstadt received a very long (3000m 9,100 ft) paved runway aligned 08/26 slightly to the east and south of the original 1935 airfield.

To hide the airfield from Allied reconnaissance aircraft, workers painted the runway to resemble a grassy field complete with fluffy white sheep.

The jet aircraft at Giebelstadt drew the attention of the USAAF Eighth Air Force, with no less than five heavy bomber attacks on the airfield between September 1944 and March 1945.

The airfield had been heavily bombed and Soldiers of the United States Army's 12th Armored Division rolled into Giebelstadt capturing it unopposed.

In the fields surrounding the base, the Army Soldiers found the burned out hulks of numerous bombers, night fighters and other military aircraft destroyed by the fleeing German forces,[2] one of many across the former Reich.

Giebelstadt was placed on "Standby" status due to budget reductions in September, with the 31st and its jets being moved to Kitzingen Air Base.

The last SAC personnel returned to the United States in January 1948, and afterward the facility was closed and placed on standby status due to budget reductions in the postwar era.

[3] The US Air Force returned in April 1950, when the 603rd Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, stationed at Hof arrived at Giebelstadt AB as part of an Operational Readiness Test.

With the breakout of the Cold War, the usefulness of the airfield by the Air Force became limited, as Giebelstadt was simply too close to the East German border to station tactical aircraft.

In January and February 1956, Giebelstadt Army Airfield was one of the two West German launch sites for Project Genetrix surveillance balloons, which were targeted to obtain aerial photographs over Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

In 1993, the Apache helicopter and Hawk ADA units deactivated and a CH-47 Chinook company (A Co. 5–159th Aviation Regiment – "Big Windy") arrived from Schwaebisch Hall Army Airfield.

[3] The Department of Defense announced on 29 July 2005 plans for the return of eleven Army bases to Germany in fiscal year 2007.

After being turned over to the German government in 2006, Giebelstadt Airfield has become a commercial airport (ICAO: EDQG) used by general aviation aircraft.

A pre-war Luftwaffe hangar which was repaired remains to the west side of the original airfield, connected to an enclosing taxiway and some aircraft parking hardstands.