Jever Air Base is a former

German Air Force The German Air Force (german: Luftwaffe, lit=air weapon or air arm, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ''Bundeswehr'') was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War as ...

military air base, located 4.3 km west-southwest of

Schortens Schortens is a town in the district of Friesland in Lower Saxony, Germany. Division of the town The town currently consists of the following districts: Schortens, Heidmühle, Grafschaft, Accum, Sillenstede, Schoost, Roffhausen, Middelsfähr, A ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. It was the home of parts of the

German Air Force Regiment ) , command_structure= , current_commander=Colonel (''Oberst'') Marc Vogt , garrison=I. Bn - SchortensII. Bn - DiepholzIII. Bn - Diepholz/SchortensRegt HQ - Schortens , battles=War in Afghanistan• ISAF , identification_symbol = , identificatio ...

. Military flying ceased in September 2013.

History

The airfield was originally opened in 1936 for the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...

. It was seized during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

in April 1945 and taken over by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

(RAF). It was designated as Advanced Landing Ground B-117 Jever. It was later designated RAF Jever and used by the RAF beginning in 1952 as part of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

British Forces in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

. RAF units assigned were: * 1952: 20 Squadron reformed with

de Havilland Vampire The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and the first to be powered by ...

FB.9 * 1952–1953: 112 Squadron with Vampire FB.5 * 1952–1961: 4 Squadron & 93 Squadron with Vampire FB.5 (replaced with FB.9), later Canadair Sabre F.4, later Hawker Hunter F.4 (replaced with F.6) * 1955–1957: 98 Squadron & 118 Squadron with Hunter F.4 * 1957–1961: 2 Squadron with Supermarine Swift FR.5 and Hunter FR.10 In 1961 the base was returned to the control of the

and became a

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

Air Base. In September 1979 NATO's

Tactical Leadership Programme TLP, in English and officially Tactical Leadership Programme, also known as the Pilot School of NATO, is an international military organization formed by 10 permanent member countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, ...

(TLP) moved to Jever. TLP prepares NATO allied coalition forces for worldwide tactical air operations. In March 1989 TLP subsequently relocated to

Florennes Air Base Florennes Air Base is a Belgian Air Component military airfield located east southeast of Florennes, a Walloon municipality of Belgium. It is home to the 2nd Tactical Wing, operating F-16 Fighting Falcons. It also used to be the home to the T ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

Military Airfield Directory Jever Airbase
* 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. *

External links

* {{authority control Installations of the German Air Force Bases of the German Air Force Luftwaffe bases Defunct airports in Germany Airports in Lower Saxony Friesland (district)