Chaumont-Semoutiers airfield
| Quartier General d'Aboville Aérodrome de Chaumont-Semoutiers |
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|---|---|
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| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | LFJA |
| IATA code | XCW |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 305 m (1001 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 5 km southwest of Chaumont |
| Street | D 65 |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1937 May 1952 |
| operator |
Armée de terre AGACS |
| Start-and runway | |
| 01/19 | 1500 m × 30 m concrete / asphalt |
The Aérodrome de Chaumont-Semoutiers is a small airfield in northeastern France . The former military airfield of the United States Air Force is located in the Grand Est region in the Haute-Marne department about five kilometers southwest of the center of Chaumont . The barracks area now serves as the Quartier General d'Aboville for the French Army , and part of the aeronautical area of the former air base is now used by two aviation clubs.
history
Base aérienne de Chaumont-Semoutiers / Chaumont-Semoutiers Air Base
The French Armée de l'air used part of the area near Chaumont as early as 1937. Later, during the western campaign of the German Wehrmacht , a bomber group, the Groupe de Bombardement II / 38 , with Amiot 143 and Bloch MB , was located here . 200 was equipped.
After the armistice, the German Air Force used the airfield for training purposes from December 1942 to August 1944. This was where the I. Department of the Air News Training Regiment 302 was located. The airfield was liberated by the US Army in late summer 1944. However, it was no longer used by the Allies in the remaining months of the war, and even after the end of the war, the military initially had no further use for the Chaumont airfield.
After the beginning of the Cold War , however, the area was intended to be expanded into a NATO airfield suitable for jets in order to station US warplanes here. To this end, the original site was enlarged and construction of the new Chaumont-Semoutiers Air Base began in early 1951.
It was not fully completed until 1956, the first fighter-bomber squadron, the 137th Fighter Bomber Wing (137th FBW), had been stationed here since May 1952, when it was the first FBW ever to go to Europe in the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) had been relocated. The F-84G of the three flying squadrons operated from Neubiberg and Ramstein until the completion of the originally 3,017 m long runway at the end of June . In July of that year, the squadron was renamed the 48th Fighter Bomber Wing . In November 1953 the 48th FBW converted to the F-86F and on July 4, 1956 the squadron was nicknamed "Statue of Liberty Wing", the artist of the Statue of Liberty had his studio not far from here, and a miniature version of "Miss Liberty" has been on the base ever since. In early January 1960, the squadron, renamed the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing in 1958, moved to its new base at RAF Lakenheath , where it is still stationed today. The background to this were disagreements between France and the alliance over the control of the US atomic bombs.
After the 48th TFW had been withdrawn, the Chaumont-Semoutiers Air Base received reserve status and from then on served as the satellite base of Toul . As a result of the Berlin crisis , from October 1961 to July 1963 the field was again used as a base for American F-84F and RF-84F, this time initially for the Air National Guard . At the end of April, however, the squadrons came to USAFE through a reorganization and subsequently formed the 366th TFW, whose staff and one of four flying squadrons were in Chaumont. The others were in Chambley-Bussières , Étain-Rouvres and Phalsbourg-Bourscheid . In the run-up to France's exit from NATO's military structures, the 366th TFW moved back to the United States in July 1963; it is now stationed at Mountain Home . After another four years as a reserve base, the area was returned to France at the end of March 1967.
Quartier General d'Aboville / Aérodrome de Chaumont-Semoutiers
After the USAFE withdrew, the French land forces took over the barracks area and renamed it Quartier General d'Aboville . The first user was the 403e Régiment d'artillerie (403e RA), which was dissolved on June 30, 1999. Since then, here is the 61e Régiment d'artillery (61e RA), a reconnaissance regiment, the CL 289 - drone used. The gendarmerie also uses the quarter.
Part of the airfield area, including the shortened runway, was used by two aviation clubs in parallel, but the Aérodrome de Chaumont-Semoutiers does not have a flight control zone. After the civil sector was operated by the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry from 1995 to 2010, this has since been done by a special operating company, the Association de Gestion de l'Aérodrome de Chaumont-Semoutiers (AGACS).
Web links
- 61 e régiment d'artillerie (French)
- L'aérodrome de CHAUMONT-SEMOUTIERS (French)
- Homepage of the Haute-Marne Aviation Club (French)