Nancy-Ochey Air Base (french: Base aérienne 133 Nancy-Ochey) is a front-line French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'air et de l'espace) base located approximately 11 km west-southwest of Neuves-Maisons in the Département de

Meurthe-et-Moselle Meurthe-et-Moselle () is a department in the Grand Est region of France, named after the rivers Meurthe and Moselle. It had a population of 733,760 in 2019.France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

History

World War I, Interwar period and French Use in World War II

Ochey Ochey () is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. See also *Communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department *Nancy – Ochey Air Base Nancy-Ochey Air Base (french: Base aérienne 133 Nancy-Ochey) is a front-li ...

airfield was of particular importance to air operations during the latter stages of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. From at least March 1917 onwards it was used by No. 3 Wing Royal Naval Air Service (later No. 207 Squadron RAF), flying Handley Page O/100 bombers. From October 1917 four HP O/100s of 'A' Squadron RNAS were joined with Nos. 55 Squadron ( Airco DH4s) and 100 Squadron ( FE2bs), to form No. 41 Wing of the Royal Flying Corps. Commanded by Lt.-Col. Cyril L Newall (later

Marshal of the RAF Marshal of the Royal Air Force (MRAF) is the highest rank in the Royal Air Force (RAF). In peacetime it was granted to RAF officers in the appointment of Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), and to retired Chiefs of the Air Staff (CAS), who were ...

Lord Newall, KCB, OM, CMG, CBE, AM), the wing flew a considerable number of sorties against strategic targets in Southwest Germany. Nancy Air Base is a pre-

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

French Air and Space Force airfield. In May 1940, it served as headquarter for the Zone D'Opérations Aériennes Est (ZOAE). This translates as Area of Air Operations - East. Aircraft assigned were: * 1 Curtiss H-75 Hawk Single-engine Fighter * 10 Potez 63.11 Twin-engined heavy fighters

German use during World War II

The base was seized by the Germans in June 1940 during the Battle of France. 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-Fliegerabtei ...

, however did not station any flying units at the airfield until April 1943, when a glider unit, Luftlandegeschwader 2 (LLG 2), equipped with Heinkel He 111s medium bombers being used to tow Gotha Go 242 transport gliders. LLG 2 moved out in June, being replaced by Luftlandegeschwader 1 (LLG 1) in September 1943, equipped with

Dornier Do 17 The Dornier Do 17 is a twin-engined light bomber produced by Dornier Flugzeugwerke for the German Luftwaffe during World War II. Designed in the early 1930s as a '' Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") intended to be fast enough to outrun opposing a ...

DFS 230 The DFS 230 was a German transport glider operated by the Luftwaffe in World War II. It was developed in 1933 by the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS - "German Research Institute for Sailplane Flight") with Hans Jacobs as the he ...

gliders. The glider units remained until August 1944. The Luftwaffe, 1933-45
/ref> In the spring of 1944, as a result of the Luftwaffe going on a defensive footing as part of the " Defense of the Reich" campaign, Jagdgeschwader 26 (JG 26) moved to Nancy, equipped with Messerschmitt Bf 109G day interceptor fighters to attack the American Eighth Air Force heavy bomber fleets attacking targets in Occupied Europe and Germany. The interceptors remained until June 1944, when they were moved out and replaced by

Kampfgeschwader 53 ''Kampfgeschwader'' 53 "Legion Condor" (KG 53; English: ''Condor Legion'') was a Luftwaffe bomber wing during World War II. Its units participated on all of the fronts in the European Theatre until it was disbanded in May 1945. At all times it ...

(KG 53), a bomber unit which was moved in from the Eastern Front, flying Heinkel He 111s, the unit used the bombers to air launch the V-1 flying bomb. The Heinkels would carry the V-1 airborne and launch it, negating the need for a long launch ramp for the weapon. KG 53 remained at Nancy until September when the Luftwaffe was removed from the base by the advancing

United States Third Army The United States Army Central, formerly the Third United States Army, commonly referred to as the Third Army and as ARCENT, is a military formation of the United States Army which saw service in World War I and World War II, in the 1991 Gulf Wa ...

moving east towards the

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

Allied use

Nancy Air Base was liberated by Allied ground forces about 20 August 1944 during the Northern France Campaign. Almost immediately, the

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

IX Engineering Command 826th Engineer Aviation Battalions began clearing the airport of mines and destroyed Luftwaffe aircraft, and repairing operational facilities for use by American aircraft. Subsequently, it became a USAAF

Ninth Air Force The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint De ...

combat airfield, designated as Advanced Landing Ground "A-96" Toul/Ochey Airfield about 29 August. Under American control, Toul/Ochey was turned over to the

, and the 50th Fighter Group moved into the repaired airfield on 3 November with three squadrons of Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, flying combat missions from the field until moving east into Germany in April 1945.Maurer, Maurer. ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. . Also, during March and April 1945, the Twelfth Air Force 27th Fighter Group operated P-47s from the airfield. Another Twelfth Air Force unit, the 415th Night Fighter Squadron operated Bristol Beaufighters from the airfield between November 1944 and March 1945, flying night interceptor missions against

aircraft. With the end of the war in Europe in May, 1945 the airfield became a central collection point for captured German aircraft as part of

Operation Lusty Operation LUSTY (LUftwaffe Secret TechnologY) was the United States Army Air Forces' effort to capture and evaluate German aeronautical technology during and after World War II. Overview During World War II, the U.S. Army Air Forces Intelligence ...

. Various Luftwaffe aircraft, both piston and jet propelled were flown to Ochey for storage prior to being flown to airfields near Cherbourg where they were loaded on ships and sent to the United States. After Lusty began to phase down in the fall of 1945, the Americans began to withdraw their aircraft and personnel. Control of the airfield was turned over to French authorities on 5 November.

Cold War

During the early years of the Cold War, the French Government allocated Ochey airfield to the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

as an emergency NATO Dispersed Operating Base for its fighter aircraft stationed in France in the 1950s and 1960s.McAuliffe, Jerome J: U.S. Air Force in France 1950-1967 (2005), Chapter 17, Dispersed Operating Bases

Postwar and modern use

In French control after the war, Nancy-Ochey Air Base was completely rebuilt. The wartime east–west (07/25) concrete runway, severely damaged by the war was removed, and a modern 8000' asphalt jet runway was laid down 01/19. In addition, three circular marguerite () system of hardstands that could be revetted later with earth for added protection were laid out, two on the north end of the runway and one on the south. Each marguerite consisted of fifteen to eighteen hardstands around a large central hangar, with each hardstand capable of one or two aircraft, and allowed the planes to be spaced approximately 150 feet (46 m) apart. Each squadron was assigned to a separate hangar/hardstand complex. Today, Nancy Air Base is a front line French airfield, well equipped, flying state of the art aircraft. It is the home of 4 squadrons of

Dassault Mirage 2000 The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine, fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter to replace the Mirage III for the French Air Force (''A ...

D multirole fighters (60 aircraft). * 3e Escadre de Chasse :

Escadron de Chasse 1/3 Navarre Escadron de Chasse 1/3 Navarre (Fighter Squadron 1/3 Navarre) is a French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'air et de l'espace) fighter squadron currently stationed at BA 133 Nancy – Ochey Air Base which flies the Dassault Mirage 2000D. See a ...

: SPA.95 Oriflamme chargé d'un Martinet : SPA.153 Gypaéte : SPA.62 Coq de Combat :

Escadron de Chasse 2/3 Champagne Escadron de Chasse 2/3 Champagne (Fighter Squadron 2/3 Champagne) is a French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'air et de l'espace) fighter squadron currently stationed at BA 133 Nancy – Ochey Air Base which flies the Dassault Mirage 2000D. S ...

: SPA.67 Cigogne de Navarre : SPA.75 Charognard : SPA.102 Soleil de Rhodes :

Escadron de Chasse 3/3 Ardennes Escadron de Chasse 3/3 Ardennes (Fighter Squadron 3/3 Ardennes) is a French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'air et de l'espace) fighter squadron currently stationed at BA 133 Nancy – Ochey Air Base which flies the Dassault Mirage 2000D. See ...

: 1° Esc GC III/3 Hure Barre bleue : 2° Esc GC III/3 Hure Barre rouge : BR.44 Sanglier assis ou Hure Barre verte * Escadron de Transformation Mirage 2000D 4/3 Argonne

References

French Senate Document, LIST AIR BASES, AND THEIR MAIN ACTIVITIES

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nancy - Ochey Air Base French Air and Space Force bases World War II airfields in France Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in France Airports established in 1915 Buildings and structures in Meurthe-et-Moselle