Nancy – Ochey Air Base
Nancy - Ochey Air Base AMSL | 1,105 ft / 337 m | ||||||||||
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Coordinates | 48°34′59″N 005°57′15″E / 48.58306°N 5.95417°E | ||||||||||
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Nancy-Ochey Air Base (French: Base aérienne 133 Nancy-Ochey) (ICAO: LFSO) is a front-line French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'air et de l'espace) base located approximately 11 km west-southwest of Neuves-Maisons in the Département de Meurthe-et-Moselle, France.
History
World War I, Interwar period and French Use in World War II
From October 1917 four HP O/100s of 'A' Squadron RNAS were joined with Nos.
Nancy Air Base is a pre-World War II French Air and Space Force airfield.
In May 1940, it served as headquarter for the Zone D'Opérations Aériennes Est (ZOAE). This translates as Area of Air Operations - East. Aircraft assigned were:[2]
- 1 Curtiss H-75 HawkSingle-engine Fighter
- 10 Potez 63.11 Twin-engined heavy fighters
German use during World War II
The base was seized by the Germans in June 1940 during the Battle of France. The Luftwaffe, however did not station any flying units at the airfield until April 1943, when a glider unit, Luftlandegeschwader 2 (LLG 2), equipped with Heinkel He 111s medium bombers being used to tow Gotha Go 242 transport gliders. LLG 2 moved out in June, being replaced by Luftlandegeschwader 1 (LLG 1) in September 1943, equipped with Dornier Do 17/DFS 230 gliders. The glider units remained until August 1944.[3]
In the spring of 1944, as a result of the Luftwaffe going on a defensive footing as part of the "
The interceptors remained until June 1944, when they were moved out and replaced by Kampfgeschwader 53 (KG 53), a bomber unit which was moved in from the Eastern Front, flying Heinkel He 111s, the unit used the bombers to air launch the V-1 flying bomb. The Heinkels would carry the V-1 airborne and launch it, negating the need for a long launch ramp for the weapon.[3]
KG 53 remained at Nancy until September when the Luftwaffe was removed from the base by the advancing
Allied use
Nancy Air Base was liberated by
Under American control, Toul/Ochey was turned over to the
Also, during March and April 1945, the
With the end of the war in Europe in May, 1945 the airfield became a central collection point for captured German aircraft as part of
Cold War
During the early years of the Cold War, the French Government allocated Ochey airfield to the United States Air Force as an emergency NATO Dispersed Operating Base for its fighter aircraft stationed in France in the 1950s and 1960s.[7]
Postwar and modern use
In French control after the war, Nancy-Ochey Air Base was completely rebuilt. The wartime east–west (07/25) concrete runway, severely damaged by the war was removed, and a modern 8000' asphalt jet runway was laid down 01/19. In addition, three circular marguerite (French for 'Daisy') system of hardstands that could be revetted later with earth for added protection were laid out, two on the north end of the runway and one on the south. Each marguerite consisted of fifteen to eighteen hardstands around a large central hangar, with each hardstand capable of one or two aircraft, and allowed the planes to be spaced approximately 150 feet (46 m) apart. Each squadron was assigned to a separate hangar/hardstand complex.
Today, Nancy Air Base is a front line French airfield, well equipped, flying state of the art aircraft.
It is the home of 4 squadrons of Dassault Mirage 2000D multirole fighters (60 aircraft).
- Escadron de Chasse 1/3 Navarre[8]
- SPA.95 Oriflamme chargé d'un Martinet[citation needed]
- SPA.153 Gypaéte[citation needed]
- SPA.62 Coq de Combat[citation needed]
- Escadron de Chasse 2/3 Champagne[8]
- SPA.67 Cigogne de Navarre[citation needed]
- SPA.75 Charognard[citation needed]
- SPA.102 Soleil de Rhodes[citation needed]
- Escadron de Chasse 3/3 Ardennes[8]
- 1° Esc GC III/3 Hure Barre bleue[citation needed]
- 2° Esc GC III/3 Hure Barre rouge[citation needed]
- BR.44 Sanglier assis ou Hure Barre verte[citation needed]
See also
- List of French Air and Space Force aircraft squadrons
- Advanced Landing Ground
- Fort des Adelphes
References
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
- ^ 207 Squadron RAF History - World War I: "1917 HP O/100s" Retrieved 16 March 2021.
- ^ "Armée de l'Air Order of Battle, 10th May 1940"
- ^ a b c The Luftwaffe, 1933-45
- ^ "IX Engineering Command ETO Airfields General Construction Information". Archived from the original on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2009.
- ^ ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
- ^ Johnson, David C. (1988), U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO), D-Day to V-E Day; Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.
- ^ McAuliffe, Jerome J: U.S. Air Force in France 1950-1967 (2005), Chapter 17, Dispersed Operating Bases
- ^ a b c d "Chiffres clés de l'Armée de l'air - L'Armée de l'air en chiffres: 2019-2020 (FR)". French Air and Space Force. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
External links
- Airport information for LFSO at Great Circle Mapper.