Dreux-Louvilliers AB

Dreux-Louvilliers Air Base
Part of United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE)
Located near: Dreux, Eure-et-Loir, France
Fairchild C-123B-8-FA Provider 54-657 stationed at Dreux AB in 1957
Dreux-Louvilliers AB Location of Dreux-Louvilliers Air Base, France
Coordinates	48°38′44″N 001°05′56″E / 48.64556°N 1.09889°E / 48.64556; 1.09889 (Dreux-Louvilliers AB)Coordinates: 48°38′44″N 001°05′56″E / 48.64556°N 1.09889°E / 48.64556; 1.09889 (Dreux-Louvilliers AB)
Site history
Built	1952
In use	1955-1967

Airfield information
IATA: none ICAO: none
Summary
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 6/24 7,900 2,407 Concrete

Dreux-Louvilliers Air Base is a former United States Air Force base. It is located in the Eure-et-Loir département of France, 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Dreux, and about one mile (1.6 km) west of Chennevieres; just to the west of the Départemental 20 (D20) (Eure-et-Loir) road.

During the Cold War, Dreux-Louvilliers was a front-line base for the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE). Sparingly used by USAFE and kept mostly in reserve status, it was used primarily as a tactical transport base for theater operations by the 60th Troop Carrier Wing in the late 1950s, and as a base for deployed Air National Guard tactical reconnaissance aircraft during the Berlin Crisis of 1961.

Today the base is closed, in reserve status by the French Air Force.

With the outbreak of the Cold War in the late 1940s, 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 the 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 (5 km) 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. Besides its active airlift and tactical reconnaissance role, Dreux Air Base also served as a Department of the Air Force High School. The school provided a residence (dormitory) high school for military family students from throughout Europe and Africa.