Monte Real military airfield
| Base Aérea de Monte Real | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | LPMR |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 57 m (187 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 2 km southwest of Monte Real |
| Street | 6 km to the A17 |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1948 |
| operator | FAP |
| Start-and runway | |
| 01/19 | 2992 m × 45 m concrete |
The Monte Real Air Base ( port. : Base Aérea de Monte Real ) is a military airport of the Portuguese Air Force Força Aérea Portuguesa (FAP), which officially it as Base Aérea Nº5 referred (BA5). It is located southwest of Monte Real and is the main base of the F-16 multi- role combat aircraft in Portugal.
history
The area of today's base served as the airfield of the "Aero Clubed de Leiria". After the outbreak of World War II, the site aroused the interest of the military, who initiated the construction of a military airfield, where the first flight movement took place in 1948.
At first it was hardly used, but was finally completed between 1957 and 1959 and opened in 1959. Monte Real became home to two squadrons of F-86F day fighters. In addition, from 1966 G.91 , from 1974 T-33 and from 1977 also T-38 training aircraft lay here .
The F-86 were flown until 1980 and a year later the first A-7P fighter-bombers arrived in Monte Real. The A-7 continued until 1984 and in the same year the field officially became a NATO airfield.
The first twenty newly built F-16s, which are still in operation today, were transferred to Portugal in 1994, although the A-7 operation only ended here in 1999 when Portugal took over another 25 used F-16s from the USAF.
This air force base is popular with all European NATO partners to this day, as the proximity of the Atlantic and the associated international waters are predestined for all kinds of air and air combat maneuvers.
Above all, the pilots of the other nations like to use the many years of experience of the pilots of the Portuguese Air Force with the F-16 to compete in air combat. An example is the maneuver of the Belgian Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) at the Kleine Brogel base with seven F-16s in January 2007.
Military use
The base is currently (2013) used as follows:
- Esquadra 201 Falcões (Falcons) 301 Jaguares (Jaguars) equipped with F-16A / AM / B / BM Fighting Falcon
There are also some non-flying units.
Web links
- Homepage of the base on the Força Aérea Portuguesa website (in Portuguese)