Reims-Champagne military airfield
| Base aérienne 112 Reims-Champagne | |
|---|---|
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| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | LFSR |
| IATA code | RHE |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 96 m (315 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 8 km north of Reims |
| Street |
D 966 5 km to 
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| Basic data | |
| opening | October 1, 1928 |
| closure | June 30, 2012 |
| operator | Armée de l'air |
| Start-and runway | |
| 07/25 | 2482 m × 48 m concrete |
The base aérienne 112 Reims-Champagne (BA 112) was a military airfield of the French Air Force ( Armée de l'air ) . The former main base, which has been named after Commander Edmond Marin La Meslée since 1953 and which was closed at the end of June 2011, is located in the Marne department in the north of the municipality of Bétheny , about eight kilometers north of Reims .
history
A maneuver took place on the site in 1901 to which Tsar Nicholas II , France's closest ally before the First World War , was invited and at the end of August 1909 the site was the scene of the Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne , the third international air show ever (after Douai and Frankfurt am Main earlier in the same summer), which counted more than 1 million visitors.
Even after the outbreak of war, Reims was an airfield used by the military. Among other things, the Escadrille des Cigognes (Eng. "Squadron of Storks"), which still exists today in a modified form, was located here ; However, the place had to be given up due to the advance of the German army. In the further course of this dispute the western front ran here.
The construction of a contemporary permanent base was approved in 1925 and its opening took place three years later in October 1928. At that time, the airfield had a grass airfield, a concrete hall apron and various hangars and support facilities. The first users were the Breguet 19 bombers of the 12e régiment d'aviation de bombardement.
In the 1930s the base was expanded and was among other base for the fighters of 4e (1933) and 5e escadre de chasse (1936-37) and the 2e groupe of 13e escadre de chasse de nuit (1939), a night fighter group . The center d'expériences aériennes militaires test center has also been located here since 1933 . Reims was the figurehead of the air force and at the end of the 1930s received several visits from high-ranking foreign air force officers, including in 1937 from the German General Erhard Milch . Aircraft types stationed in 1939 were a large number of Curtiss P-36s , some Dewoitine D.500s and the Bloch MB.210 of the 12e escadre de bombardement , a bomber squadron .
After the outbreak of World War II , other associations were relocated to Reims-Champagne. These included the I and II / 15 groups, which were equipped with Farman F.222 . In addition, the British Royal Air Force's Fairey Battle were stationed here. After the armistice of June 1940, the airfield Reims-Champagne was an airbase of the German air force , which was called "airfield A213 / XI". The first flying formation lying here was the Kampfgeschwader 77 equipped with Ju 88A , which was used in the Battle of Britain . Its II. Group (II./KG 77) lay here between October 1940 and March 1941. In February / March 1941 there were also staff (S./KG 77) and I group (I./KG 77).
After more than three years of use, particularly as a maintenance and repair facility for the Ju 88, and some bombing raids by the Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), the site was closed weeks after the start of the Allied invasion of Normandy in the second half of August 1944 Base of Fw 190 interceptors of the II. Group of the Jagdgeschwader 6 (II./JG 6), some of which were in Herpy, and the I. Group of the Jagdgeschwader 11 .
The airfield was liberated by the Americans on August 30, 1944, and after a short repair it was initially called Airfield A.62 as a Ninth Air Force base . After being used by the C-47 of the 440th Troop Carrier Group in September, the P-47s of the 373d Fighter Group came to Reims in the middle of the month and operated from Reims until the end of October 1944. The airfield later became a replenishment base and, from February 1945, home to the US courier planes of the Allied headquarters in Reims. Colonel-General Alfred Jodl stayed here the night before he signed the surrender of the Wehrmacht on May 7, 1945 .
France received the facility back in July 1945 and it was initially used as a storage facility for US aircraft that were no longer needed, some of which were still given to friendly Western European air forces.
The base was reactivated from 1949 and completely rebuilt as a NATO base suitable for jets and for eleven years it was home to the 3e escadre de chasse , a fighter squadron. First there were Vampires here from 1950 , followed by F-84 in 1951 and F-100 in 1959 . French airmen moved from Reims to Egypt and Cyprus in 1956 during the Suez Crisis .
In 1961 the association changed instead of the 3rd Jagdgeschwader to the 30th Allwetter-Jagdgeschwader, 30e escadre de chasse tout temps , which was initially equipped with Vautour IIN . In addition, between 1961 and 1978, Reims also housed the 62nd air transport squadron, 62e escadre de transport , which was equipped with the Nord 2501 .
In June 1966 the escadron de chasse tout temps 2/30 (EC 2/30) “Normandie-Niemen” hunting group joined the EC 3/30 “Lorraine” in Reims and in December 1973 the first Mirage F1 arrived in Champagne.
The "Normandie-Niemen" fighter group moved to Colmar in 1993 and the 30th fighter squadron was disbanded in 1994. In February 1994 the two reconnaissance groups 1/33 (ER 1/33) "Belfort" and ER 2/33 "Savoie", which had previously been located in Strasburg and equipped with the Mirage F1CR, took its place . At the same time, the hunting group EC 3/30 became the reconnaissance group ER 3/33 "Lorraine".
In September 1996 Pope John Paul II celebrated a mass in Reims on the occasion of the 1,500th anniversary of the baptism of Clovis I.
Group ER 3/33 was deactivated as a Mirage unit in 2005 and in 2008 it was announced that Base 112 should be closed. After a day of flying to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first air show in August 2009, the last Mirage F1s of the ER 2/33 group left Reims in July 2011 and the airfield was closed in June of the following year.
Todays use
After the military left in May 2012, the property is unused.
