Phalsbourg-Bourscheid military airfield
| Camp La Horie Phalsbourg-Bourscheid Air Base |
|
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | LFQP |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 316 m (1037 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 4 km west of Phalsbourg |
| Street | N 4 |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 4th February 1955 |
| operator | ALAT |
| Start-and runway | |
| 06/24 | 2196 m × 45 m asphalt |
The Camp La Horie is a military airfield of the French Army Aviation ( Aviation légère de l'armée de terre ). The base is in the Grand Est region in the Moselle department between Bourscheid / Burscheid in the west, on whose municipality it is largely located, and Phalsbourg / Pfalzburg in the east, about 47 km northwest of Strasbourg . It is a home base for transport and attack helicopters .
history
In contrast to many other (military) airfields, the base was only created at the beginning of the Cold War . There was no airfield in the area before or during the First World War , when Phalsbourg was still part of Germany, nor in the phase of armament in the run-up to the Second World War .
Phalsbourg-Bourscheid Air Base
Since the USA also considered a base relatively close to the west of the Upper Rhine in Alsace or eastern Lorraine to be necessary as part of its NATO alliance obligations , the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) was assigned a site west of Phalsbourg. A USAFE advance command arrived in the spring of 1952 and construction began the following summer.
The technical systems were completed in the spring of 1954 and handed over on February 4, 1955. Remaining work was carried out in the following year and a half, but for budget reasons the originally planned stationing of a combat squadron did not take place.
The first user was the 23rd Helicopter Squadron equipped with H-21B transport helicopters from July 1956 ; two detachments were in Phalsbourg and the another at airports in England Essex and the Wheelus Air Force Base in Libya . The "Bananen", at the time the only US Air Force helicopter squadron in Europe, stayed for two years and then became the base for eight months for the RF-84F and RF-101A of reconnaissance squadrons stationed in Germany . These were the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing from Spangdahlem and the 66th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing from Sembach .
Meanwhile, in mid-April 1958 , the 513th Fighter Interceptor Squadron , coming from Manston , moved to their new home base in Phalsbourg. It initially belonged to the 406th Fighter-Bomber Wing and flew the F-86D , but in May it was subordinated to the 86th Fighter-Interceptor Wing in Ramstein . After the "Sabers" left the base in the last weeks of 1960, the squadron was deactivated in early 1961.
During the Berlin crisis , the base became home to fighter jets again. For one year until mid-1962, Phalsbourg was the base of the F-86H of the 102nd Tactical Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard , which in late 1962 was supported by the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron , a regular F-84F USAF unit belonging to the 366th TFW in Chaumont -Semoutiers was under, was relieved. This squadron, which is now the last US fighter squadron in Central Europe on Spangdahlem AB, left the airfield after only seven months of deployment.
After that there was only occasional air traffic, which also included the forerunners of the REFORGER exercises. After the expulsion of US troops announced by President de Gaulle in 1966, USAF use ended on April 1, 1967.
Camp La Horie
The former US Air Base was then to become the base for French Army aviators . The first user was on July 1, 1969, the Groupe d'aviation légère du 1 ° Corps d'armée (GALCA 1), which activated a first light helicopter squadron in autumn that year, which in turn was assigned the first SA318C in March 1970 . Further squadrons were set up and in June 1970 the first SA330 Puma arrived, with which a total of two maneuver helicopter squadrons could ultimately be set up.
The H-19s that were initially flown were decommissioned in 1971. The first SA341 Gazelle arrived in 1974, while the Alouette II of the combat helicopter squadron was replaced by Alouette III in early July 1977 . The GALCA I was decommissioned at the end of the same month and the 1st combat helicopter regiment was set up in its place on August 1, 1977, and has been stationed here to this day.
In 1978 the first foreign deployment took place in Chad and in 1982 the Alouette III was replaced by the SA 342, an armed version of the Gazelle. In the 1990s, the regiment was used in the Balkans , and with the AS532 Cougar , another type of helicopter has been flown since 2001.
On December 12, 2013, the base received its first two Eurocopter Tigers and three Caïman .
Todays use
The base currently (2019) houses two regiments of the French land forces:
- 1er régiment d'hélicoptères de combat , combat helicopter regiment , consisting of 6 flying squadrons and equipped with over 50 helicopters of the types SA341 / 342 Gazelle and SA330 Puma (replacement by Caïman), AS532 Cougar , Eurocopter Tiger and Caïman
In addition, since 1999 there has been a support regiment for the land forces. At the airport Nancy-Essey the Helicopter Regiment maintains a branch office.