The English Count de Rice, whose personal details remain unknown, bought from the Kornelimünster Abbey more than three hundred acres of the treeless Brand Heath (which is today the area around North Street (Nordstrasse) and Erberichshof Street, bounded by Eilendorf Street (Eilendorferstr.),
and at the time included the estates of Gut Neuenhof, the Krummerrück, and the Hebscheider Hof), so that he could build homes and a horse racetrack.
In 1789 the Count went bankrupt and the area was repossessed, but later it was given to the community of Brand, which still built the racetrack, along with a grandstand.

In the 19th century, horse racing in Brand enjoyed great popularity after it had been initiated in 1830 by the industrialist James Cockerill and further expanded upon in 1870 by his grandchildren and respected gentlemen riders Otto and Henry Suermondt, who would later serve as the nucleus of the Aachen-Laurensberg Riding Club.

After the turn of the 20th century, equestrian sports in the area became more concentrated in Soers, and so the wide-open area of Brand became a staging area for Aachen area flight pioneer and airplane builder Erich Lochner.
It is also here that the first flight demonstrations of a propeller driven airplane took place.
Later, the Aachen Association of Aeronautics (founded in 1911 and made up of private individuals, scientists from RWTH Aachen University, and military officers) rented the area and built maintenance and assembly workshops.
Until 1913, numerous flights took place here under international cooperation, but despite these initial successes, the activities of the airfield had to be stopped because the club had incurred too much debt and could no longer operate.
The English Count de Rice, whose personal details remain unknown, bought from the Kornelimünster Abbey more than three hundred acres of the treeless Brand Heath (which is today the area around North Street (Nordstrasse) and Erberichshof Street, bounded by Eilendorf Street (Eilendorferstr.), and at the time included the estates of Gut Neuenhof, the Krummerrück, and the Hebscheider Hof), so that he could build homes and a horse racetrack. In 1789 the Count went bankrupt and the area was repossessed, but later it was given to the community of Brand, which still built the racetrack, along with a grandstand.
In the 19th century, horse racing in Brand enjoyed great popularity after it had been initiated in 1830 by the industrialist James Cockerill and further expanded upon in 1870 by his grandchildren and respected gentlemen riders Otto and Henry Suermondt, who would later serve as the nucleus of the Aachen-Laurensberg Riding Club.
After the turn of the 20th century, equestrian sports in the area became more concentrated in Soers, and so the wide-open area of Brand became a staging area for Aachen area flight pioneer and airplane builder Erich Lochner. It is also here that the first flight demonstrations of a propeller driven airplane took place. Later, the Aachen Association of Aeronautics (founded in 1911 and made up of private individuals, scientists from RWTH Aachen University, and military officers) rented the area and built maintenance and assembly workshops. Until 1913, numerous flights took place here under international cooperation, but despite these initial successes, the activities of the airfield had to be stopped because the club had incurred too much debt and could no longer operate.
Brand (Aachen)