Istres-Le Tubé military airfield
| Base aérienne 125 Istres-Le Tubé | |
|---|---|
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| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | LFMI |
| IATA code | QIE |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 49 m (161 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 3 km west of Istres |
| Street |
N 569 15 km to the 
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| Basic data | |
| opening | 1915 |
| operator | Armée de l'air |
| surface | 2100 ha |
| Start-and runway | |
| 15/33 | 5000 m × 60 m concrete |
The Base aérienne 125 Istres-Le Tube (BA 125) is a military airport of the French Air Force ( Armée de l'air ). The base, which is named after the fighter pilot "Charles Monier" who in 1953 was killed during a test flight, is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône about three kilometers west of the center of Istres .
It forms part of the airborne " Force de frappe " and serves as an important transport hub for the French military. It also houses the most important flight test center in France and one of the most important in the world. The longest runway in Europe, at 5000 meters, would previously have been an emergency landing site for the space shuttle . The last 1200 meters were built in 1992 as an "over-run" for Airbus . 5000 people work on the 500-building site, 4000 of them for the Ministry of Defense .
history
The Istres base is one of the oldest military airfields in France. A military flight school was opened here as early as 1915. In the interwar period, the airfield was the scene of art and record flights, for example by Hélène Boucher .
During the Second World War , it was first used by the Armée de l'air and, after France's surrender at the end of the German Wehrmacht's western campaign, the Armée de l'Air de Vichy . After the occupation of southern France by the German Wehrmacht in November 1942, the air force continued to use the airfield. During the last six weeks of 1942, Istres was the base of the Fw 190A fighter-bomber of the 10th squadron of Jagdgeschwader 2 (10th (Jabo) / JG 2), reinforced in the first month by the 10th squadron of Jagdgeschwader 26 (10./JG 26).
In the first half of 1943 the Ju 88A equipped IV. Group of Kampfgeschwader 3 (IV./KG 3) used the base in southern France. Then from July 1943 the Do 217E / K of the staff and the III. Group of Kampfgeschwaders 100 (S. and III./KG 100) and in September the majority of II. Group (II./KG 100) were added. KG 100 left Istres in November 1943.
Ju 88A of the staff, I. and II. Group of Kampfgeschwader 30 (S., I. and II./KG 30) operated for a short time from Istres at the end of January 1944. With the same type of aircraft, the base was the base of the 4th Squadron of Kampfgeschwader 76 (4./KG 76) from the end of March to the beginning of July 1944 , reinforced by the 6th Squadron of Kampfgeschwader 77 (6./KG 77) from the beginning of June .
In addition to the bomber units, long-range reconnaissance squadrons were also stationed here between November 1942 and December 1943, initially the 1st squadron of the reconnaissance group (F) 33 (1st / reconnaissance group 33) until September 1943 and the 3rd squadron from July 1943 of the reconnaissance group (F) 122 (3rd / Aufkl.Gr. 122), both also on Ju 88. In midsummer 1943 some Bf 110s of the 1st squadron of the close reconnaissance group 16 (1st / NAGr. 16) were added.
In addition, other front and replacement troops used Istres until it was captured by the landed Allies in August 1944 . The base was the target of Allied air raids several times during the German occupation. The main allied user of Airfield Y.17 , the Allied code name, was the 64th Troop Carrier Group of the Twelfth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) equipped with a C-47 Skytrain , which was located here between September and November 1944.
After the war ended, the base was initially a stopover for the repatriation of American troops and was returned to France in October 1945. In the years up to 1958, the British Royal Air Force also used Istres as a stopover for flights to states of the Empire and Commonwealth.
With the establishment of the flight test center Center d'Essais en Vol (CEV), the civil-industrial joint use began in 1950. Many Dassault aircraft models have been tested here. The test pilot school École du personnel navigant d'essais et de réception (EPNER) was moved from Brétigny-sur-Orge to Istres in 1962 and affiliated to the CEV.
From July 1965, the Boeing C-135F tanker planes were added. You were initially in the service of the Escadron de ravitaillement en vol 4/93 (ERV 4/93) "Aunis" (since 1976 ERV 1/93). Between 1976 and 1993 all tankers were under the 93rd Squadron (93 ERV), whose second squadron was 2/93 "Sologne". In 1988 the tankers were repowered and given the designation C-135FR. In September 1991 a third season was added, the EIRV 3/93 "Landes". After the dissolution of 93 ERV three years earlier, on August 1, 1996 the two remaining fueling stations were merged to form the new ERV 93 "Bretagne" (renamed in 2004 to group GRV 0/93 and 2009 GRV 1/91).
In 1999 NATO used the base for Operation Allied Force over Yugoslavia, from here operated U2 and in addition to the French tankers also KC-135 of the USAF .
From 2011 to 2018, Istres was the last base for the Mirage 2000N . This variant, equipped with nuclear weapons , was part of the Force de frappe in service with the Escadron de chasse 2/4 (EC 2/4) "La Fayette".
As part of a reorganization, a squadron was reorganized in Istres in August 2014, the 31e escadre aérienne de ravitaillement et de transport stratégiques (31e ERTS) for air refueling and transport, the first of a series of others. In the same year, the planned 120 million euro modernization of the base began in view of the arrival of the first new transport / tanker aircraft of the type A330 MRTT "Phénix" in 2018. In addition to a maintenance center to be built for the A330, the Runways and taxiways at the airport modernized. This also includes the creation of nine parking positions for the new tankers, five of them in the high-security area of the strategic air force. The first "Phénix" arrived at the base at the end of September 2018 and was officially handed over at the beginning of October.
In October, the flying squadrons of the 31st squadron were reorganized. The Escadron de ravitaillement en vol et de transport strategique ERVTS 1/31 "Bretagne" were assigned to the A330 and the C-135 came to the ERV 4/31 "Sologne".
Military use
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The base currently (2019) houses a squadron of the French nuclear forces Force de frappe :
- 31e escadre aérienne de ravitaillement et de transport stratégiques (31e ERTS), air refueling and transport squadron, consisting of two flying squadrons, the Escadron de ravitaillement en vol et de transport strategique ERVTS 1/31 "Bretagne", equipped with the A330 MRTT "Phénix " and the Escadron de ravitaillement en vol ERV 4/31" Sologne ", equipped with the Boeing KC-135 . In addition, there is the maintenance relay , Escadron des soutiens techniques aéronautiques ESTA 15/31 "Camargue".
Civil use
The flight test center on this site is internationally known. Certain tests of new aircraft types from Airbus take place here on a regular basis . EPNER trains test pilots , flight test engineers , flight engineers and technicians as well as air traffic controllers who participate in test flights.
Web links
- Homepage of the base (Facebook)
- EPNER website at the French Ministry of Defense
- Information about the 93rd Squadron (French)