Ankara Güvercinlik Army Air Base, ( tr, Ankara Güvercinlik Kara Hava Üssü) is a military airport of the

Turkish Army The Turkish Land Forces ( tr, Türk Kara Kuvvetleri), or Turkish Army (Turkish: ), is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the ...

located in Güvercinlik of

Etimesgut Etimesgut or Etimesut, formerly Ahimesut, is a metropolitan district of Ankara Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, mainly consisting of large public housing projects, from Ankara city centre. According to 2010 census, the populatio ...

district, west of

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

in central

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. The air base hosts

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

controlled units,

General Directorate of Mapping The General Directorate of Mapping ( tr, Harita Genel Müdürlüğü or HGM) is the national mapping agency of Turkey under the Ministry of National Defense and is responsible for the official topographical mapping of the country in both hard-copy ...

's aviation unit, Army Aviation School, 1st Army Aviation Regiment and Ankara Gendarmerie Aviation Group. The airport is open to

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

for civil domestic flights with permission.

History

With the foundation of the Turkish State Airlines Enterprise ( tr, Devlet Hava Yolları İşletmesi) (DHY), the predecessor of the

Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines ( Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları'') is the national flag carrier airline of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 340 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, making it the largest mainline carrier in the w ...

(THY), in 1933, regular domestic passenger flights started the same year between Ankara and

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

via a stopover in

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from "old" and "city") is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 898,369 with a metropolitan population of 797,708. The city is located on the banks of the ...

. The airport in Güvercinlik became the first airport of Ankara. In 1935, a training and a maintenance service center were established by the

Turkish Aeronautical Association Turkish Aeronautical Association ( tr, Türk Hava Kurumu - THK) is a non-profit organization with an aim of increasing public awareness and participation in aviation related activities and the national body governing air sports in Turkey. The asso ...

( tr, Türk Hava Kurumu) at the airport. The center, called Türkkuşu (for "Turkish Bird"), carried out revision services to the DHY in two hangars until its relocation to the nearby airport in

in 1945. On February 13, 1947, the first international passenger flight of the DHY departed from the Güvercinlik Airport for

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

via Istanbul. Güvercinlik Airport served for the city of Ankara 22 years until 1955 when the civil flights were transferred to the newly completed Esenboğa Airport. Maintenance facilities were relocated to Istanbul Yeşilköy Airport the same year. The Army Aviation School (''Kara Havacılık Okulu''), which was established in 1948 at the Turkish Army's Artillery School in

Polatlı Polatlı (formerly Ancient Greek: Γόρδιον, Górdion and Latin: Gordium) is a city and a district in Ankara Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, 80 km west of the Turkish capital Ankara, on the road to Eskişehir. Accordin ...

to train pilots and flight equipment technicians for

reconnaissance aircraft A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using photography), signals intelligence, as ...

and

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s of the army and the gendarmerie, was deployed in 1958 to Güvercinlik Airport. Following the re-establishment of the aviation branch of the

Turkish Navy The Turkish Naval Forces ( tr, ), or Turkish Navy ( tr, ) is the naval warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The modern naval traditions and customs of the Turkish Navy can be traced back to 10 July 1920, when it was establi ...

in 1968, the first naval helicopter pilots were trained by the Army Aviation Command's flight school at the Güvercinlik Army Air Base.

Legal status

Currently, the air base is owned and operated by the Turkish Army. However, the military airport is open to general aviation for non-scheduled civil domestic flights only with permission according to a "Protocol on the Use of Military Airports by Civil Aviation" signed on July 22, 2002, between the Turkish General Staff and the

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government age ...

. Civil aircraft, foreign flagged or Turkish, may make use of the maintenance facilities at the base with permission. Aircraft with any foreigner crew member, however, need to obtain a special permission to use the facilities. No staying overnight is allowed at the airport.

Units and equipment stationed

Following units and their equipment are stationed at the air base: *General Staff controlled units **Special Aviation Group Command (''Özel Hava Grup Komutanlığı'')
S-70A helicopters and CN235-100M transporters **GES Aviation Group Command (''GES Hava Grup Komutanlığı'')
CN235-100M transporters and

UH-1H The Bell UH-1 Iroquois military helicopter, first introduced in 1959, is the first production member of the prolific Huey family of helicopters, and was itself developed in over twenty variants, which are listed below. XH-40 and YH-40 The firs ...

Bell 206L A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an intern ...

helicopters *General Directorate of Mapping (''Harita Genel Müdürlüğü'') **Mapping Aviation Group (''Harita Hava Grubu'')
Beech B200 aircraft *Army Aviation School Command (''K.K. Havacılık Okulu Komutanlığı'') **Attack Helicopter Squadron (''Taarruz Helikopter Taburu'') ***1st Flight (''1. Filo'')
Bell AH-1 ***2nd Flight (''2. Filo'')
Bell AH-1P, Bell TAH-1P Trainer **Helicopter Squadron (''Helikopter Taburu'') ***1st Flight (''1.Bölük'')

Bell UH-1 The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (nicknamed "Huey") is a utility military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Bell Helicopter. It is the first member of the prolific Huey family, as well as the first turbine-powered helic ...

***2nd Flight (''2.Bölük'')
S-70A **Air Transport Group (''Hava Ulaştırma Grubu'')
Beech B200, 421C Golden Eagle/Executive Commuter aircraft and

, Eurocopter AS 532 UL Cougar helicopters **Instruction Flight Command (''Kurs Bölük Komutanlığı'') ***Basic Flying Instruction-Rotating (''Temel Uçuş Hareketli'')
Augusta Bell 206R helicopters ***Instrumental Flight Instruction (''Aletli Uçus Eğitim'')
Cessna T-41D to be replaced by Cessna T182T Skylane, Beechcraft T-42A aircraft *** Tactical Flying, Shooting and Instruction Departments (''Taktik Uçuş, Atış ve Eğitim Bölümleri'')
Agusta Bell AB 204B,

Bell UH-1H The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (nicknamed "Huey") is a utility military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Bell Helicopter. It is the first member of the prolific Huey family, as well as the first turbine-powered hel ...

Bell OH-58A Kiowa The Bell OH-58 Kiowa is a family of single-engine single-rotor military helicopters used for observation, utility, and direct fire support. It was produced by the American manufacturer Bell Helicopter and is closely related to the Model 206A ...

helicopters and Cessna U-17B aircraft **5th Main Maintenance Center (''5. Ana Bakım Merkezi'') *1st Army Aviation Regiment (''1. Kara Havacılık Alayı'') **Air Transport Group (''Hava Ulaştırma Grubu'')

Beriev Be-200 The Beriev Be-200 ''Altair'' (russian: Бериев Бе-200) is a utility amphibious aircraft designed and built by the Beriev Aircraft Company. Marketed as being designed for fire fighting, search and rescue, maritime patrol, cargo, and pass ...

amphibious aircraft An amphibious aircraft or amphibian is an aircraft (typically fixed-wing) that can take off and land on both solid ground and water, though amphibious helicopters do exist as well. Fixed-wing amphibious aircraft are seaplanes ( flying boats ...

, 421C Golden Eagle/Executive Commuter aircraft and

, Aerospatiale AS 532-VIP, Aerospatiale AS 532UL Cougar helicopters *Ankara Gendarmerie Aviation Group Command (''Ankara Jandarma Hava Grup Komutanlığı'') **Headquarter (''Karargah Kıtaatı'')
Cessna 182P Skylane aircraft and S-70A-17 helicopters **1st Helicopter Flight (''1. Helikopter Filo'')
Augusta Bell AB 205 and S-70A-17 **2nd Helicopter Flight (''2. Helikopter Filo'')
Mil Mi-17-1V (VIP, gunship and transport)

1993 airplane crash

Chief of the Gendarmerie, Gen.

Eşref Bitlis Eşref Bitlis (Malatya 1933 – Ankara 17 February 1993) was a general in the Turkish Gendarmerie, who died in a controversial plane crash. Background He was born 1933 in the eastern Anatolian city of Malatya, Turkey. He attended the Turkish Mil ...

departed on February 17, 1993, from the Güvercinlik Air Base aboard a Beechcraft B200 for an official trip. The aircraft crashed shortly after take-off. Bitlis, his aide-de-camp, the pilots and a technician were killed. The pilot, who had VIP green card certification for excellence in flying, had switched the airplanes before the flight after having realized that the cockpit was not in order. The statement of the

Chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces (militaries), the head of the military staff. List * Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (United States) * Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia) * Chief of General Staff (Afg ...

, Gen.

Doğan Güreş Doğan Güreş (15 February 1926 – 14 October 2014) was a Turkish general and True Path Party politician. Education After he graduated from Kuleli Military High School in 1945, Güreş kept on studying at the Turkish Military Academy and acc ...

, that the accident on that snowy day was caused by

atmospheric icing Atmospheric icing occurs in the atmosphere when water droplets suspended in air freezing, freeze on objects they come in contact with. It is not the same as freezing rain, which is caused directly by precipitation. Icing conditions can be particul ...

was denied by the crash investigators.

Other airports in Ankara

* Esenboğa International Airport * Mürted Air Base *

Etimesgut Air Base Etimesgut Air Base ( tr, Etimesgut Hava Üssü) is an airbase of the Turkish Air Force located west of Ankara, Turkey. It is owned by Turkish Air Force and jointly operated by the air force and the Turkish Aeronautical Association ( tr, Türk Ha ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ankara Guvercinlik Army Air Base Airports in Turkey Heliports in Turkey Guvercinlik Air Base Turkish Army air bases Transport in Ankara Province