Nörvenich Air Base (Fliegerhorst Nörvenich) is a

German Air Force The German Air Force (, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ) was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War as the aerial warfare branch of the armed forces of West Ger ...

air base in

Nörvenich Nörvenich is a municipality in the district of Düren in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located about east of Düren Düren (; Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, Germany . It has been the home of Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 31 "Boelcke", which flies the

Eurofighter Typhoon The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, supersonic, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Syste ...

. Since 2023, Tactical Air Force Wing 33 from Büchel Air Base, the sole remaining German base with nuclear weapons, has been exercising at Nörvenich Air Base, while Büchel´s airfield will be renovated to accommodate the new

F-35 The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, supersonic stealth strike fighters. A multirole combat aircraft designed for both air superiority and strike missions, it also has electronic warf ...

jets by 2026.

History

Nörvenich Air Base was built in

, near Düren,

for the

RAF Germany Royal Air Force Germany, commonly known as RAF Germany, and abbreviated RAFG, was a command of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and part of British Forces Germany (BFG). It consisted of units located in Germany, initially in what was known as West G ...

in 1952 and opened in August 1954. In 1958, Jagdbombergeschwader 31 (Fighter-Bomber Wing 31; abbreviated as: ''JaBoG 31'') based at Nörvenich, was the first German fighter-bomber wing to use the U.S.-built

Republic F-84F Thunderstreak The Republic F-84F Thunderstreak is an American swept-wing turbojet-powered fighter-bomber. The RF-84F Thunderflash is variant of the F-84F that was designed for photo reconnaissance. The design was originally intended to be a relatively simp ...

of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

. In January 1959, this squadron was the first German Air Force wing to be assigned to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. In 1961, it was the first wing to use Lockheed F-104 ''Starfighters''. The first "Tornado" ( Panavia PA 200) started in July 1983 from the air base. Since June 2010, the squadron has been flying

s. From Aug. 12, 1977 to Aug. 27-1977, exercise 'Coronet Poker' saw 18

F-105 The Republic F-105 Thunderchief is an American fighter-bomber that served with the United States Air Force from 1958 to 1984. Capable of Mach 2, it conducted the majority of strike bombing missions during the early years of the Vietnam War. It ...

s from the USAFR's 301TFW deploy to the base. Thirteen Thunderstick II F-105Ds and one F-105F came from the 457th TFS, based at

Carswell Air Force Base Carswell Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force (USAF) base, located northwest of Fort Worth, Texas. For most of its operational lifetime, the base's mission was to train and support heavy strategic bombing groups and wings. Carswe ...

, Texas. Three standard F-105Ds and one F-105F were contributed by the 465th TFS, from Tinker AFB, OK.

21st century

During 17 to 28 August 2020, the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

made a historic fighter deployment when six F-16C/D Fighting Falcon “Barak” fighter jets operated from the base, taking part in Exercise Blue Wings 2020 with the resident Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 31 and their

Eurofighter The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, supersonic, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems ...

s. This marked the first time in history Israeli combat aircraft had landed in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Tactical Air Force Wing 33 from Büchel Air Base, the sole remaining German base with nuclear weapons, is exercising at Nörvenich Air Base, while Büchel´s airfield will be renovated to accommodate the new

jets by 2026, at a cost of 10 billion €.

References

* Johnson, David C. (1988), U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO), D-Day to V-E Day; Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.

External links

*
FNörvenich Air Base
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norvenich Air Base Bases of the German Air Force Airports in North Rhine-Westphalia