Quartier Colonel Dio is a

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

installation in

Meyenheim Meyenheim () is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It lies on the Ill river, 12km east of Soultz-Haut-Rhin. See also * Communes of the Haut-Rhin département The following is a list of the 366 commune ...

, in the

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

region of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, near the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

borders. From 1963, when it was opened, it was Colmar–Meyenheim Air Base (Base aérienne d'opérations 132 Colmar-Meyenheim) after being an airfield for Strasbourg-Entzheim. The French Air Force used the base until 2010, when it was turned over to the French Army. It is now the home of the

Régiment de marche du Tchad The ''Régiment de marche du Tchad'' (RMT, " ''Ad hoc'' Regiment of Chad") is a mechanised unit of the French Army, belonging to the ''Troupes de Marine''. It is part of the 2nd Armoured Brigade. Formerly garrisoned north of Noyon it was moved ...

(RMT) (free-translation roughly 'Chad provisional regiment'), one of the most famous and decorated units in the French Army. The base is 15 km south of

Colmar Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is ...

, east of

Autoroute A35 The A35 autoroute is a toll free motorway in northeastern France. It is also known as the ''Autoroute des cigognes'' and the ''Voie Rapide du Piémont des Vosges''. It connects the German border in the Rhine valley with the Swiss frontier via ...

. The base is bordered by farmland to the west, and surrounded by forest on its other sides.

History

The construction of Colmar–Meyenheim Air Base began in 1951. The first unit to arrive was the 13th Fighter Wing with

F-86 Sabres The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Sov ...

and T-33 trainer aircraft in 1957. Fighter Wing 013 members lived on the base until the unit disbanded on 23 June 1995. Fighter Wing 030 Alsace and Normandie-Niemen were the two squadrons in operation on the base after the disbandment of the 13th Fighter Wing. The

Fighter Squadron A squadron in air force, army aviation, or naval aviation is a unit comprising a number of military aircraft and their aircrews, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, dependi ...

01/030

Normandie-Niémen Fighter Squadron 2/30 Normandie-Niemen (Escadron de Chasse 2/30 Normandie-Niemen) is a French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'air et de l'espace) Fighter aircraft, fighter Squadron (aviation), squadron which flies the Dassault Rafale C from BA ...

was formed six months after

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

invaded the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

in June 1941. The unit was created for cooperation between the Free French and the Soviet Union governments. There were initially 12 fighter pilots serving the German-Russian front, but the group was officially declared Groupe de Chasse GC 3 Normandie on 1 September 1942 with Commandant Pouliquen in command. After training on Yakovlev Yak-7s in January 1943, Commandant Jean Tulasne took command of the group. Between 22 March 1943 and 9 May 1945 the unit destroyed 273 enemy aircraft. It received awards from both France and the Soviet Union: the French

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

and the Soviet

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

awarded the name "Niémen" after the Battle of the Neman River in 1944. The group flew to Morocco in March 1947, trading Vulture 11s for the first of the Mirage F1Cs. The EC 02/30 unit departed North Africa on 13 March 1962. In December 1973, the base turned to

Air Defense Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

. Fighter Squadron 02/030 Normandie – Niémen was merged with The Fighter Squadron 01/030 Normandie – Niémen in 2007. The French Government announced in July 2008 that all flying activities at the base would cease one year later. General Jean-Paul Paloméros, the Chief of Air Force Staff, led the ceremony for dissolution of the base. The closure of the base was part of a restructuring of the air force. Six Mirage F1Bs and about twelve F1CTs were planned to relocate to

Reims – Champagne Air Base Reims – Champagne Air Base (french: Base aérienne 112 Reims-Champagne) is a former Front-line French Air and Space Force (french: Armée de l'Air) air base. The base is located approximately north of Reims; about northeast of Paris. Squad ...

. The last stage in the base's Air Force history came on 16 June 2010 when the base banner of BAO 132 was furled and transferred to the ''Service historique de la Défense/Armée de l'air'' (Defence Historical Service/Air Force) at Vincennes. On 1 July 2010 at midnight, the base became

barracks Quartier Colonel Dio.

Air Force equipment and units

Several different aircraft and units were stationed at the base. ;Aircraft * F86 Sabre and

T-33 The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then d ...

(1957–62) *

Mirage IIIC The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizon ...

(1962–65) *

Mirage IIIB The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizon ...

(1965–66, 1986–94) * Mirage IIIE (1965–77) *

F-100 Super Sabre The North American F-100 Super Sabre is an American supersonic jet fighter aircraft that served with the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1954 to 1971 and with the Air National Guard (ANG) until 1979. The first of the Century Series of ...

(1966–67) * Mirage 5F (1972–94) * Mirage F1CT (1992–2009) * Mirage F1B (2005–2009) ;Units *3/11 "Corsica" Fighter Squadron (1966–67) *3/13 "Auvergne" Fighter Squadron (1972–1994) * 13th Fighter Wing (1957 – 23 June 1995) *2/13 "Alps" Fighter Squadron (Until 27 June 2008) *1/13 "Artois" Fighter Squadron (Until 2009)

Meteorological station

The air base hosted a meteorological station maintained by

Météo-France Météo-France is the French national meteorological service. Organisation The organisation was established by decree in June 1993 and is a department of the Ministry of Transportation. It is headquartered in Paris but many domestic operatio ...

; the station was the sixth-driest in France (after

Marignane Marignane (; oc, Marinhana) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southern France. Geography It is a component of the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, and the largest suburb of the cit ...

– Marseille Provence Airport,

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat (dialect), Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population ...

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...

and Évreux) of the French meteorological service network.

References

{{Reflist French Army installations Military installations established in 2010