Solenzara Air Base


Base aérienne 126 Solenzara
Summary
Airport typeMilitary
OwnerGovernment of France
OperatorArmée de l'air et de l'espace
LocationTravo, France
Elevation AMSL65 ft / 20 m
Coordinates41°55′28″N 09°24′20″E / 41.92444°N 9.40556°E / 41.92444; 9.40556
Map
Solenzara AB is located in France
Solenzara AB
Solenzara AB
Location of Solenzara Air Base, France
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
18/36 2,627 8,619 Paved
Source:World Aero Data[1]

Air Base 126 Solenzara (French: Base aérienne 126 Solenzara) (IATA: SOZ, ICAO: LFKS) is a French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'air et de l'espace) (ALAE) base located in the village of Ventiseri approximately 40 km north-northeast of Porto-Vecchio on Corsica. It is just north of the mouth of the Travo River on the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Today the Air Base is a NATO tactical training center.[2][3] It hosts:

World War II

B-25J-10 43-27425, "111". 447th Bombardment Squadron, 321st Bombardment Group, Solenzara Airfield, Corsica in late 1944.

During World War II the air base was constructed by the United States Army Air Force Twelfth Air Force XII Engineer Command as an all-weather temporary field built using Pierced Steel Planking for runways and parking areas, as well as for dispersal sites. In addition, tents were used for billeting and also for support facilities; an access road was built to the existing road infrastructure; a dump for supplies, ammunition, and gasoline drums, along with a drinkable water and minimal electrical grid for communications and station lighting. As the airfield was not located on mainland France, no Advanced Landing Ground identifier was designated, and it was called Solenzara Airfield.

The airfield was designed for fighter, medium bomber units, as well as for command and control. Known units assigned were:

Both the 310th and 324th flew combat missions in support of the Invasion of Southern France (Operation Dragoon) during July and August 1944. At the end of the war, the American combat units moved out for their return to the United States. The airfield was then turned over to the French government in July 1945.[5][6][7][8]

Corsican conflict

On the night of 13 January 1978, nine armed militiamen wearing balaclavas stormed and bombed the NATO radar station at Solenzara using 40 kg of explosives, in the so-called "Operation Zara".[9][10][11]

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2009-08-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ↑ Sgt. Sara Keller (7 March 2016). "Exercise SERPENTEX 16; cleared hot". Ramstein Air Base.
  3. ↑ "US, Canadian, French JTACS build partnership capacity". Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  4. ↑ "Chiffres clés de l'Armée de l'air - L'Armée de l'air en chiffres : 2019-2020 (FR)". French Air and Space Force. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  5. ↑ Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
  6. ↑ Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. ↑ USAFHRA Document 00244862 - Report of construction of Solenzara Airdrome, Corsica
  9. ↑ "Indipendentisti corsi sul piede di guerra" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2016-08-07. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  10. ↑ "archive-fr.com - archive-fr Resources and Information". archive-fr.com. Archived from the original on 2018-02-21. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  11. ↑ "#Corse StoriaCorsa -1978 " Le FLNC plastique la Base Aérienne 126 de Sulinzara " | Unità Naziunale". www.corsicainfurmazione.org (in French). Retrieved 2018-02-19.
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