Dreux-Louvillier Air Base
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| Dreux-Louvillier Air Base | |||
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| IATA: - ICAO: | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Military | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 602 ft (184 m) | ||
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| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 6/24 | 7,900 | 2,407 | Concrete |
Dreux-Louvillier Air Base is a former United States Air Force base in France. It is located in the Eure-et-Loir département of France, located 18 miles southwest of Dreux, and about 4 miles south of Brezolles.
During the Cold War, Dreux-Louvillier was a front-line base for the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE).
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[edit] Origns
During the 1920's and 1930's, a small civil aviation aerodrome was built near Dreux, and during World War II, the United States Army Air Force 9th Air Force constructed a facility to operate fighter, tactical bomber and also transport aircraft in 1944.
The USAAF 366th Fighter Group arrived at Dreux on 24 August, flying P-47 "Thunderbolts. On 11 September, the 397th Bombardment Group (Medium) took up residence with B-26 "Marauder" tactical bombers, and on 3 November the 441st Troop Carrier group arrived with C-47 "Skytrain", pulling gliders in the airborne assault across the Rhine.
After the war, the airfield at Dreux was closed and civil flight operations by the French were shifted to nearby Vernouillet Airport.
[edit] NATO Acquisition
With the outbreak of the Cold War in the late 1940's, with the Berlin Airlift and the ongoing threat from the Soviet Union to Western Europe, negotiations began in November 1950 between NATO and the United States to establish air bases and station combat wings in France to meet European defense needs.
During the negotiations for selection sites, the World War II airfield at Dreux was proposed for expansion into a modern air base. However, the French government rejected airfield at Dreux, citing the expansion of Orly Airport near Paris presenting a conflict with airspace traffic, and plans were in the works to expand Vernouillet into a commercial site.
By the summer of 1951 another location near the village of Dampierre, about 3 miles south of Brezolles was selected as a base to support the United States Air Force as a tactical airlift base. This location would become Dreux Air Base.
[edit] USAF Use
Construction of Dreux-Louvillier Air Base began in September 1952 with the construction of roads and a railroad spur. In November, runway construction began along with various taxiways, hardstands and hangars.
The design of the airfield was to space parked aircraft as far apart as possible by the construction of a circular marguerite system of hardstands that could be revetted later with earth for added protection. Typically the margueriete consisted of fifteen to eighteen hardstands around a large central hangar. Each hardstand held one or two aircraft, and allowed the planes to be spaced approximately 150 feet (50 meters) apart. Each squadron was assigned to a separate hangar/hardstand complex. This construction can be seen clearly in the satellite image link at the bottom of this article.
In addition to the operational construction, Dreux had three large 37,000 sq. ft. transport size hangars, and two fighter size hangars that were 31,000 sq. ft. each. The larger hangars provided the space and necessary shops to accommodate two C-119 "Flying Boxcar" cargo planes for periodic inspections. These hangars could also accommodate two C-130 aircraft. Warehouse storage at Dreux consisted of four million cubic feet serviced by two railroad sidings.
Building construction continued for the next several years, and by the summer of 1955 the base was ready for its American occupants.
[edit] 60th Troop Carrier Wing
The 60th Troop Carrier Wing with the 10th, 11th, and 12th TC squadrons, flying C-119F "Flying Boxcars" relocated from Rhein-Main AB, West Germany on 15 October 1955.
The primary mission of the 60th was to transport U.S. Army and other NATO airborne and ground forces throughout Europe. The wing maintained its ability to drop airborne forces into a combat operation, but intra-theater airlift support became its primary mission. The majority of the missions were short-haul logistics support flights to support US and NATO forces such as transporting equipment and supplies between various air bases. Surface transportation in Europe was extremely slow, even a decade after the end of World War II. In addition losses and damage to surface transported goods was very common. High value supplies such as spare aircraft parts were such that the cost of airlifting them as well as personnel between weapons training ranges in Libya and Morocco and other locations was justified.
In addition, the 60th TCW supported the 62nd Troop Carrier Squadron from Sewart Air Force Base, Tennessee which was testing the dual basing concept of troop carrier aircraft. Another airlift unit, the 309th Troop Carrier Group arrived from Ardmore AFB, Oklahoma, to join the 60th TCW at Dreux on 1 June 1956. They flew the C-123Bs, providing logistical support to all USAFE bases, and to assist in improving dispersed base deployment concepts.
On 20 April 1958 USAFE decided that the C-123's were too expensive to operate in Europe and notified the 309th to return to the United States. The group returned to Ardmore AFB in July.
Most of the C-123's were returned to the states, being assigned to Air Force Reserve units.
On 12 March 1957, Headquarters 60th Troop Carrier Group was deactivated, with the squadrons being commanded by 60th Wing Headquarters directly. Then on 25 September 1958, the 60th Wing Headquarters was itself deactivated with command and control of the squadrons being assigned directly to the 322nd Air Division at Evreux-Fauville Air Base.
In January 1961 budget reductions at HQ USAFE eliminated the 10th, 11th and 12th Troop Carrier Squadrons, with the units being deactivated in place along with all support units at Dreux. Support personnel were either assigned to the 317th Air Base Group or reassigned to other USAFE bases. Evreux AB became the caretaker of Dreux from 1 January 1958 until November 1961.
The 12th remained at Dreux until the Summer of 1962, when the Squadron was deactivated and the aircraft either sold to the third world, or returned to the USA, where many served with reserve units or were mothballed. In 1968 six of the 12th C-119s were modified to AC-119K "Stinger" hunter/killer gunships and served with distinction in Vietnam.
[edit] 7305th Combat Support Group
From September 1958 though 1 November 1961 Dreux Air Base was classified as "standby", with all units assigned to the base coming under the command of the 7305th Combat Support Group and the 317th Air Base Group from Evreux. Although some C-119's still operated from Dreux, most operated from Evreux.
Manpower and budget shortages prevented adequate maintenance at Dreux and the condition of the base began to deteriorate after its inactivation. There were few flight operations from the base and the facility fell into a state of disrepair.
[edit] 1961 Berlin Crisis
[edit] 7117th Tactical Wing
On 3 November 1961, Dreux AB was reopened and occupied by the 106th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron of the 117th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing of the Alabama Air National Guard, flying RF-84Fs.
The Wing was activated to active duty on 1 October 1961 for a period of twelve months during the Berlin Crisis. This was the second tour of duty for the 117th in France, as it had opened Toul-Rosieres Air Base in January 1952. At the time of its activation, the 117th consisted of the 106th TRSquadron at Sumpter Smith Airport, Birmingham; the 153rd at Key Field, Meridian Mississippi; the 160th at Dannelly Field, Montgomery, and the 184th TRS at Fort Smith Municipal Airport Arkansas.
Due to budget restrictions, only one squadron, the 106th, was deployed to France. On 27 October 20 RF-84F's were deployed to Dreux, arriving on 3 November. In addition, two T-33As and and one C-47 were deployed as support aircraft. By 22 November, the wing reassembled at the newly reactivated Dreux for an estimated stay of ten months. At Dreux, the unit was designated the 7117th Tactical Wing.
However, problems developed immediately after their arrival at Dreux. The base had been in standby status for about a year and no longer was used for operational flights. Possibly the French forgot to take into account the fact that the base could be re-opened for exercises and deployments such as was now the case.
In any event, the more than one thousand airmen of the 106th TRS arrived at a base that had been stripped clean. The French had taken away everything they could. Even the office desks were missing along with the telephones and typewriters. The kitchens had not been used for some time, a fact that the quartermasters had not taken into account, so getting the base operational again in the short time available took an all-out effort.
A few days after the ground units arrived from Alabama, the first aircraft were prepared for a practice flight. To the utter amazement of the American traffic controllers at Dreux, the French refused permission for take-off. Only after a lot of wrangling were several aircraft allowed to take to the air.
Dreux came within the Paris Air Traffic Control area, as did the busy Le Bourget and Orly airports, and an extra squadron of aircraft had not been allowed in the French air traffic controllers' staffing levels. The safety of civilian air traffic was used as the excuse to refuse the Americans permission to fly out of Dreux. Notwithstanding stormy protests, every form of co-operation was refused and the F-84s stayed on the ground.
The pilots who had only just completed a risky Atlantic crossing of several thousand kilometers, now hung around bored in the bare operations room. In the United States, the Birmingham News daily newspaper reported indignantly that 'their boys', after the sudden mobilization and the weeks of preparation, had not been sent to Europe to sit around a French airfield doing nothing.
However strongly the Pentagon protested, the French answer remained 'non!' Eventually General Reid Doster, commander of the Alabama deployment could do little else but take his aircraft elsewhere. At the end of November 1961 he received permission from the traffic controllers to go with his aircraft to Chaumont AB on 8 December 1961, to fly but USAFE insisted that the 7117th Wing continue to operate at Dreux for airlift traffic.
On 22 July 1962 the 106th TRS returned to Alabama, and Dreux AB was placed back in standby status by USAFE.
[edit] USAF Closure
Following the departure of the ANG units in 1962, the 322nd Air Division operated the base, assigning the 7305th Combat Support Group as the host unit at Dreux.
Dreux had no flying units assigned and no support aircraft, being occasionally used by transient C-119 and C-130's for training missions.
On 7 March 1966, French President Charles De Gaulle announced that France would withdraw from NATO's integrated military structure. The United States was informed that it must remove its military forces from France by 1 April 1967.
In May the removal of all American property began and was completed by November 1966. Dreux Air Base was returned to French control on 24 March 1967.
[edit] Current Uses
After the American return of the facility to the French, the base was shut down and put into care and maintenance status. It is a secured facility, but is not used for any flight operations. Some of its buildings are used for storage of supplies and equipment by the French Air Force. However, most of the base appears to be abandoned and overrun by vegetation.
[edit] References
- McAuliffe, Jerome J: U.S. Air Force in France 1950-1967 (2005), Chapter 10, Dreux-Louvillier Air Base.
- Ravenstein, Charles A., Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977, Office of Air Force History, 1984
- Endicott, Judy G., USAF Active Flying, Space, and Missile Squadrons as of 1 October 1995. Office of Air Force History
- USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to Present [1]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- 60th Air Mobility Wing
- 117th Air Refueling Wing
- C-123K #54-610 of the 309th Troop Carrier Group
- DreuxAirForceBase 2004
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
