Montijo Air Base ( pt, Base Aérea do Montijo) - officially known as Air Base No. 6 (''Base Aérea n.º 6'') or BA6 - is a

military air base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

located in Montijo, Portugal. The base is home to three transport squadrons and one helicopter

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

squadron and provides logistic support to the

Portuguese Navy The Portuguese Navy ( pt, Marinha Portuguesa, also known as ''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'' or as ''Armada Portuguesa'') is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Por ...

's helicopters based there.

History

The Montijo Air Base started to be built by the

, before

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 ...

, to replace its

Naval Aviation Naval aviation is the application of Military aviation, military air power by Navy, navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft ...

base of Bom Sucesso in Lisbon. The War prevented the good progress of the works and the base ended only to be inaugurated in 1952, as the "Sacadura Cabral" Naval Aviation Centre. The inauguration of the base happened during the process of the creation of the independent

Portuguese Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 1 July , equipment = , equipment_label ...

(PoAF) and the transference of the Naval Aviation from the control of the Navy to the new branch. On March 3, 1953, the Naval Aviation Centre was officially re-designated as Air Base No. 6. However, within the PoAF an independent group originating from the Naval Aviation units, known as "''Forças Aeronavais''", continued to operate from BA6 in the

anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...

role. Only by late 1956, early 1957, was the integration of these units in the PoAF complete, with some personnel returning to the Navy and others staying in the air force. In 1993, with the arrival of the Portuguese Navy's first Westland Super Lynx Mk.95 for the ''Vasco da Gama''-class frigates, the air base became home to a naval helicopter squadron. The Air Force Survival Training Center ( pt, Centro de Treino de Sobrevivência da Força Aérea, CTSFA) is based at BA6 with the mission of training PoAF personnel in survival and individual rescue, including in

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space * Nuclear ...

radiologic Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiati ...

biological Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wit ...

warfare environments, as well

Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the milit ...

. In 2018 it was announced that the base would also become a civil airport (serving Lisbon) for

low cost carriers A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or ''discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing ope ...

by 2022.

Tenant units

Portuguese Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 1 July , equipment = , equipment_label ...

** 501 Sqn. "''Bisontes''" (Bisons) — tactical transport squadron ** 502 Sqn. "''Elefantes''" (Elephants) — tactical and general transport squadron ** 504 Sqn. "''Linces''" (Lynxes) — VIP and MEDEVAC transport squadron ** 751 Sqn. "''Pumas''" (Pumas) — search and rescue squadron *

** ''Esquadrilha de Helicópteros da Marinha'' (Navy Helicopter Squadron)

References

Notes

Sources

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External links