1954 to 1961: Dresden as the basis for ambitious plans

In the mid-1950s, Dresden-Klotzsche gained importance in yet another respect: The government of the GDR had decided to establish its own aircraft industry, the centre of which was planned to be Dresden. At the beginning, commercial passenger planes type IL-14P were built, these were a special variant of the Soviet Ilyushin IL-14.

The plans, however, were still more ambitious: The development of the first German jet aircraft had already begun in Dresden and further challenging projects were in the preparation phase.

On 4 December 1958 Germany's first commercial jet aircraft took off for its virgin flight from Dresden-Klotzsche. The plane, with the simple type description 152, was a masterpiece of engineering at that time. However, the goal may have been a little too ambitious for the aeronautical industry in the GDR, which was only just in the process of being established. There were hold-ups in the development of the 152, and the tragic crash of a test aircraft in March 1959 was a serious set-back.

Although a second test plane successfully completed several trial flights in August and September 1960, repeated delays decreased still further the already low chances of ever selling the new aircraft.

Gradually, the government came to the realisation that the aircraft industry which made large losses would become a great burden to the young economy in the GDR. Moreover, it became increasingly apparent how difficult it was to compensate for the lack of international co-operation, the absence of suitable suppliers and the backlog in basic research.

As a result of these thoughts, the GDR government decided in February 1961 to stop the manufacture of aircraft completely. The location of the aircraft factory in Dresden was turned into an industrial estate, open for any kind of industry, where the East German Air Force also ran a repair works for their aircraft.