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Former bases of the United States Air Force in France | |||||||
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Part of the Cold War | |||||||
Map of former NATO air bases in France. | |||||||
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From 1951 to 1966 the United States Air Force deployed thousands of personnel and hundreds of combat aircraft to France to counter the buildup of the Soviet Armed Forces in Eastern Europe. The Cold War escalated into the attempted seizure of West Berlin during 1948. This convinced the western nations to form a common defense organization. Discussions led to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO's defense strategy came to incorporate land, sea, and air forces.
Due to the vulnerability of West Germany to Soviet attack, USAF planners did not want any new tactical air units moved into the U.S. Zone of Occupation there. By 1950, the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) wanted all tactical air units to be located west of the Rhine River to provide greater air defense warning time. France agreed to provide air base sites.
Between 1950 and 1967 the United States Air Force operated 11 major air bases in France. There were other communications sites, NATO Dispersed Operating Bases, Sub-Depots and minor facilities at several French Airports, such as Orly Airport and Marseille Provence Airport. The United States Army also established a significant presence in France, and was responsible for much air base construction and maintenance.
France was a founding member of NATO which came into existence on 24 August 1949. The first non French NATO tenant in France was the 1630th Air Base Squadron of the USAF Military Air Transport Service, activated in June 1950 at Paris - Orly Air Base. On 28 February 1958 the official name of Orly Air Base was changed to Orly Airport and most MATS flights were routed to Chateauroux Air Depot.
After 15 years of U.S. Air Force presence, French President Charles de Gaulle decided to evict non French NATO forces from France. On 7 March 1966, he announced that France would withdraw from NATO's integrated military structure. He gave foreign NATO forces one year to depart France. Prior to this he refused to store nuclear weapons from other countries on French soil.
The State Department, the United States Department of Defense, and Air Force carefully managed the news about the American departure from France, and the attendant problems of an integrated NATO air defense for western Europe and the decrease in tactical airpower. [1] Due to the U.S. media focus on the Vietnam War, the removal of foreign, mainly US, NATO forces from France went virtually unreported in the US.
During 1966-67 all USAF offices and facilities in France were closed and personnel and equipment moved. The last USAFE activities were the 1630th Air Base Squadron at Orly Airport and the Paris Administration Office. Both were closed in June 1967.
On 23 October 1967, all foreign flags were furled and after 17 years the last foreign NATO forces departed France.
Today most of the old USAF air bases in France are being used by the French military and are not accessible to tourists.
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Tactical Air Command (TAC) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. It was inactivated on 1 June 1992 and its personnel and equipment absorbed by Air Combat Command (ACC).
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Zweibrücken Air Base was a NATO military air base in West Germany. It was located 35 miles (56 km) SSW of Kaiserslautern and 2 miles (3.2 km) SE of Zweibrücken. It was assigned to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) during its operational lifetime. It was a constituent member of the Kaiserslautern Military Community.
Chambley-Bussières Air Base is a former United States Air Force base in France. It is located in the Meurthe-et-Moselle département of France, about 20 km (12 mi) west of the French city of Metz, and about 2 km (1.2 mi) southwest of Chambley-Bussières, on the south side of the Départementale 901 (D901) (Meurthe-et-Moselle) road. The airport, now known as Chambley Planet'Air Aerodrome, is active as a civil airport.
Évreux-Fauville Air Base is a French Air and Space Force base located about 2 miles (3 km) east of the town of Évreux in the Eure département, on the north side of the Route nationale 13 (N13) Highway.
Laon-Couvron Air Base is a former French and United States Air Force base in France. It is located in the Aisne département of France, less than one mile southeast of the village of Couvron and 6 miles northwest of Laon; on the southwest side of the Autoroute des Anglais 1 Mile (1.6 km) east of the village of Couvron-et-Aumencourt.
Quartier La Horie is a French Army base. It is located in the Moselle département, about 2 miles(3 km) west of the town of Phalsbourg, on the north side of the Route nationale 4 (N4) Highway adjacent to the village Saint-Jean-Kourtzerode; 29 miles (47 km) northwest of Strasbourg.
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England Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base in Louisiana, located 5 miles (8.0 km) northwest of Alexandria and about 170 miles (270 km) northwest of New Orleans. Originally known as Alexandria Army Air Base, on 23 June 1955 the facility was renamed England Air Force Base in honor of Lt Col John Brooke England (1923–1954).
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Erding Air Base is a German Air Force airfield near the town of Erding, about 45 kilometers (28 mi) northeast of central Munich in Bavaria. It is the home of the 5th Air Defense Missile Squadron and the 1st Air Force Maintenance Regiment.
Torrejón Air Base is both a major Spanish Air and Space Force base and the co-located Madrid–Torrejón Airport, a secondary civilian airport for the city and metropolitan area of Madrid, east-northeast of the city center in central Spain.
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Orly Air Base was a United States Air Force Facility during the early part of the Cold War, located at Aéroport de Paris-Orly, 15 kilometres (9 mi) south of Paris, France. The American Air Base was located on the north side of the airport, in an area east of the current-day Val-de-Marne/Essonne.
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Lunéville-Croismare Airport is an airport in France, located approximately 3 km east-southeast of Lunéville in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department. The airport is used for general aviation, with no commercial airline service.
Vernouillet Airport is a regional airport in France, close to the town of Vernouillet, Eure-et-Loir. It supports general aviation with no commercial airline service scheduled.
Base Lieutenant Étienne Mantoux, formerly Étain-Rouvres Air Base is a base of the French Army Light Aviation. It is located on the Lorraine Plateau in northeastern France, 1 mile (1.6 km) to the west of Étain; on the west side of the Départemental 906 (D906) (Meuse) road, adjacent to the village of Rouvres-en-Woevre in the Meuse département about 12 miles east of Verdun. It was built in 1937 and has been used by the French, British, German, and U.S. Air Forces, before the French Army took the base over, after 1967.
Quartier Général d'Aboville, formerly Chaumont-Semoutiers Air Base, is a French Army artillery base in France. It is located two miles (3.2 km) southwest of the city of Chaumont, Haute-Marne, just to the west of the Route Nationale 67 (N67) highway about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) north of Semoutiers-Montsaon in the Haute-Marne département of northeast France. During the early years of the Cold War, Chaumont-Semoutiers air base was used by United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE).