Canadian Forces Base Lahr
| Canadian Forces Base Lahr | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Military | ||||||||||
| Owner | Canadian Forces Air Command | ||||||||||
| Location | Lahr, Germany | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 48°22′9.30″N 07°49′39.8″E / 48.3692500°N 7.827722°E | ||||||||||
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Canadian Forces Base Lahr (IATA:LHA, ICAO: EDTL, former code EDAN) was a military operated commercial airport located in Lahr, Germany. It was operated primarily as a French air force base, and later as a Canadian army base, beginning in the late 1960s. The military base was closed in 1994 and converted to civilian use. It is now known as the Flughafen Lahr.
Canada established a presence at Lahr during the late 1960s with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as part of Canadian Forces Europe command.
In the early 1950s, the RCAF had established No. 1 Air Division to meet Canada's NATO air defence commitments in Europe. No. 1 Air Division consisted of twelve fighter squadrons located in four wings. Two wings were located in France (No. 1 Wing and No. 2 Wing) and two were located in West Germany (No. 3 Wing and No. 4 Wing). Eight air division squadrons were replaced by (nuclear) strike aircraft in 1962 in support of Canada's new and controversial nuclear strike role.
In 1963, the Government of France announced that all nuclear weapons located on French soil (NATO or French) would be controlled by France itself. This was unacceptable to the RCAF (and other NATO units stationed in France), so the two nuclear strike squadrons at 2 Wing were hastily moved in fall 1963; 430 Squadron to 3 Wing Zweibrücken, and 421 Squadron to 4 Wing Baden-Soellingen. Remaining non-nuclear armed units in France were repositioned to Marville, and RCAF Station Grostenquin closed in 1964.
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