Chièvres military airfield
| Base aérienne de Chièvres Chièvres Air Base |
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|---|---|
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| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | EBCV |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 59 m (194 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 2 km southeast of Chièvres |
| Street | N56 |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1930s |
| operator | United States Army |
| Start-and runway | |
| 08/26 | 2498 m × 45 m asphalt / concrete |
The Chièvres military airfield ( ICAO code : EBCV , French Base aérienne de Chièvres ) in Belgium is an establishment of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), which they refer to as Chièvres Air Base . The actual operator of the military airfield is the Benelux garrison of the US Army. The base is in the Wallonia region in the province of Hainaut near Chièvres , around 15 km northwest of Mons . It serves mainly as an airport for visitors to the NATO headquarters Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) near Mons .
history
The first airfield near Chièvres was laid out at the beginning of the First World War in 1914 by the German occupation forces for the air forces of the German Empire .
Today's airfield was built in the 1930s for Aviation Militaire Belge , which used it as an alternative airfield from the end of 1939 after the outbreak of World War II . In the course of the German Wehrmacht's western campaign in the spring of 1940, the base fell into German hands and the Luftwaffe continued to use it as the war continued. Around the turn of the month of May / June 1940, the Bf 109E of all three groups of Jagdgeschwader 26 lay here for a short time and flew missions against the British troops in the Dunkirk area . In June, Kampfgeschwader 30 took over the field and flew with its Ju 88A missions against the further evacuation operation of the British troops . The squadron stayed until September 1940 and took part in the Battle of Britain until then .
Between September and December 1940, the Corpo Aereo Italiano of the Italian Regia Aeronautica intervened in the air battle on the Axis side , but was withdrawn at the end of 1940 after heavy losses. Chievres were Fiat BR.20M Cigogna of 43 ° Stormo and Cant Z.1007bis of 172 ° Squadriglia Ricognizione Strategica Terrestre .
From the end of 1940 Chièvres was initially no longer used for operations by the Air Force. The Germans used the time for a generous expansion of the square, which also included the construction of two 1,800 m long concrete runways.
With the laying of the IV. Supplementation group of kampfgeschwader 3 (IV. (Erg.) / KG 3) of Le Culot Chievres was as a military airfield used again, the Do 17 of the unit flew missions over England and the Atlantic Ocean . The group, now equipped with a Ju 88A , was also used by the Cerberus company . In January 1943 she moved to Istres .
At the beginning of 1944, the I. Group of Kampfgeschwader 6 (I./KG 6) equipped with Junkers Ju 188 was located here, which bombed targets in England as part of the Steinbock company .
The US Army reached the airfield, the facilities of which had been largely destroyed and the area of which had been mined by the withdrawing German troops, in early September 1944. After its makeshift repair, Allied fighters continued to use Airfield A.84 until the end of the war. During the Battle of the Bulge , Hawker Typhoon of the RAF's 123rd Squadron ( 123rd Wing ) used it , before and after this period there were fighter groups of the USAAF .
At the end of 1945 the base was returned to Belgium and in 1947 the expansion for the operation of jet fighters began . The 7th Fighter Wing, equipped with Meteor , moved to its new base at the end of 1950. Then the 10th Wing , still equipped with Spitfire XIV , was added, but it was relocated to Kleine Brogel in 1953 . The 7th Wing first converted to the Hunter F.4 in 1956 , which was replaced by the Hunter F.6 after only two years.
After the squadron was disbanded in 1963, Belgium gave the base to NATO in 1968 for use in the new headquarters near Mons.
Todays use
The base currently (2012) houses an airborne unit, the 309th Airlift Squadron , a squadron of the 86th Airlift Wings stationed in Ramstein , mostly equipped with a C-37 for the transport of high-ranking military personnel, especially the Commander in Chief (SACEUR) , as he is traditionally an American is. There is also a USAFE service unit for visitor aircraft (so-called cross servicing ). The operation of the base by the US Army began in 1984 by the 80th Support Group [Area] , which has been known as the current name since 2005.
Approach procedure
For approaches to instrument flight rules a standing instrument landing system , a TACAN -Anflug and a GPS -Anflug onto the web 26 are available.
Web links
- Homepage of the United States Army Garrison Benelux in English
- Henry L. deZeng IV: Luftwaffe Airfields 1935–45, Belgium and Luxembourg
Individual evidence
- ↑ United States Air Force: Fact Sheet C-37A. In: US Air Force. 2018, accessed August 12, 2018 .
- ↑ EBCV - CHIÈVRES (MIL) . AIP Belgium and Luxembourg, September 15, 2016, p. AD 2.MIL-EBCV-1 .