Santa Cruz Air Force Base – ALA12 is a base of the

Brazilian Air Force The Brazilian Air Force (, FAB) is the air branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces and one of the three national uniformed services. The FAB was formed when the Brazilian Brazilian Army Aviation (1919–1941), Army and Brazilian Naval Aviation, Nav ...

, located in the district of Santa Cruz in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil.

History

The base was originally called Bartolomeu de Gusmão Airport and it was constructed to handle the operations with the

rigid airship A rigid airship is a type of airship (or dirigible) in which the Aerostat, envelope is supported by an internal framework rather than by being kept in shape by the pressure of the lifting gas within the envelope, as in blimps (also called pres ...

s '' Graf Zeppelin'' and '' Hindenburg''. Between 1931 and 1937,

Deutsche Luft Hansa ''Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G.'' (from 1933 styled as ''Deutsche Lufthansa'' and also known as ''Luft Hansa'', ''Lufthansa'', or DLH) was a German airline. It served as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and t ...

had regular flights between Germany and Brazil, with

as final stop. For this reason

Luftschiffbau Zeppelin Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH is a German aircraft manufacturing company. It is perhaps best known for its leading role in the design and manufacture of rigid airships, commonly referred to as ''Zeppelin, Zeppelins'' due to the company's prominence ...

decided to construct a dedicated facility and move its operations from Campo dos Afonsos Airport. The airport was inaugurated on 26 December 1936. The whole complex consisted of an airfield, the hangar, a

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

factory and a branch-line connecting the complex to the main railway line to downtown Rio de Janeiro 54 km away among other structures. Some of the buildings are still in use, particularly the hangar which was built to accommodate the rigid airships. Because it is the only original surviving hangar built for rigid airships in the world, on 14 March 1999, it was listed as a National Heritage Site. As a consequence to the

Hindenburg disaster The ''Hindenburg'' disaster was an airship accident that occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. The LZ 129 Hindenburg, LZ 129 ''Hindenburg'' (; Aircraft registration, Regi ...

on 6 May 1937 at Lakehurst Air Naval Station in New Jersey, US, the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin requested to the Brazilian Government on 17 June 1937 the suspension of services. Since then no more civil operations were handled at this facility. On 12 February 1942, six months before Brazil declaring war against the

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

, the airport was commissioned as a base of the

. The name of the facility was changed to Santa Cruz Air Force Base on 16 January 1943, even though, according to a law prescribing rules for the naming of airports of July 21, 1953, the name of the facility could officially and exceptionally be maintained as Bartolomeu de Gusmão Airport.

Units

The following units are based at Santa Cruz Air Force Base: * 1st Squadron of the 7th Aviation Group (1°/7°GAv) ''Orungan'', using the P-3AM Orion, and the Elbit RQ-1150 Heron. * 3rd Squadron of the 8th Aviation Group (3°/8°GAv) ''Puma'', using the H-36 Caracal. * 1st Fighter Aviation Group (1ºGAvC), comprising the (1°/1°GAvC) ''Jambock'' Squadron, and the (2°/1°GAvC) ''Pif-paf'' Squadron, using the F-5EM & FM. * 1st Squadron of the 1st Communications and Control Group (1º/1ºGCC) ''Profeta'', using radars and equipment for air defense.

Accidents and incidents

*7 August 1951:

, a

Douglas C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II. During the war the C-47 was used for tro ...

registration FAB-2028 struck a hillside reportedly following an engine failure and crashed upon approach to Santa Cruz. The crew of 4 died. *3 May 1982: a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

Avro Vulcan The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) was a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe ...

was intercepted by two F-5E aircraft of the 2nd Squadron of the 1st Group of Combat Aviation (2°/1°GAvC) ''Pif-paf'' based at Santa Cruz. The Vulcan had finished the Operation Black Buck 6 during the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

and was returning to

Ascension Island Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overs ...

when it suffered technical problems. It was intercepted upon entering Brazilian airspace and made to land at the

Galeão Air Force Base Galeão Air Force Base – ALA11 is a base of the Brazilian Air Force located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is named after nearby ''Praia do Galeão'' (''Galleon Beach''), where in 1663 the galleon '' Padre Eterno'' was built. It shares som ...

. The Brazilian aircraft flew back to Santa Cruz having successfully accomplished the first real interception mission in their history.

Access

The base is located 54 km from Rio de Janeiro downtown in the district of Santa Cruz.

Gallery

This gallery displays aircraft that are or have been based at Santa Cruz. The gallery is not comprehensive.

Present aircraft

File:P-3AM (14982104577).jpg, Lockheed P-3AM Orion (FAB) File:Operação Atlântico 2018 (31993852168).jpg, Eurocopter H-36 Caracal (FAB) File:Northrop F-5 (Forca Aerea Brasileira) Operação Ágata 11 (27543292150).jpg, Northrop F-5EM (FAB)

Retired aircraft

File:Gloster F-8 Meteor (F8), Brazil - Air Force AN1198897.jpg, Gloster F-8 Meteor File:Museu de Aeronáutica no Campo dos Afonsos 3.tif, Lockheed TF-33A T-Bird File:Brazilian Air Force AMX air-to-air refuelling.jpg, A-1 AMX File:Embraer EMB 110 (Forca Aerea Brasileira) (9028199498).jpg, Embraer C-95B Bandeirante (FAB)

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Rio de Janeiro (state) Brazilian Air Force Brazilian Air Force bases Buildings and structures in Rio de Janeiro (state) Military history of Rio de Janeiro (city) Airports in Rio de Janeiro (city) Airports established in 1936