Colmar-Meyenheim Air Base (BA.132)
Colmar-Meyenheim Air Base (Base Aerienne 132) is situated not far from the German and Swiss borders in the Alsace region of France. It is home to the last Mirage F.1CT's flown by the Armee de L'Air under the auspices of Le Regiment de Chasse 01/030 'Normandie Niemen'.
Construction of the air base at Colmar began back in 1951 and the first unit to arrive was Escadre de Chasse 013 with F.86 Sabre's and T-33 trainer aircraft. Following this, a long line of Dassault Mirage aircraft began service with the Mirage IIIC in 1962, the IIIE in 1965, 5F in 1972 and finally the F.1CT in 1992.
EC.013 disbanded on 23rd June 1995 and EC.030 with 01/030 'Alsace' and 02/030 'Normandie-Niemen' became the two resident squadrons at Colmar. With the introduction of the Dassault Rafale into service, EC.02/030 disbanded in June of this year as the Armee de L'Air began the withdrawal of the Mirage F.1CT and Colmar faced up to its closure in 2009, at which time the final few aircraft will operate temporarily from Reims-Champagne alongside the resident Mirage F.1CR reconnaissance versions.
Jetwash Aviation Photo's spent a day with the unit on 25th August 2008, a Bank Holiday in the U.K, so what better way to spend it than somewhere else, particularly with sunny skies and classic fighter aircraft?
The disbandment ceremony for EC.02/030 took place on 27th June 2008 at Colmar and Mirage F.1B number 518 received a commemorative colour scheme to recognise that the Mirage F.1B's would pass over to what would now become RC.01/030.
At the same time EC.01/030 would lose it's 'Alsace' recognition and take on the 'Normandie-Niemen' guise under the flag of RC.01/030.
The fin of the aircraft was painted on both sides with all of the aircraft that had flown with 01/030 'Alsace' squadron from the very beginning of its history in World War 2, when it flew as 341 (French) Squadron of the Royal Air Force based at RAF Turnhouse in the U.K.
The current commander of RC.01/030 is Lieutenant-Colonel Fabien Kuzniak and there are currently around twenty five aircraft on strength, of which about fifteen are actually operational at any one time due to essential maintenance and the constant workload created by trying to keep a 25 year old aircraft in front-line use.
In addition to normal duties RC.01/030 also provides a three aircraft detachment at N'Djamena in Chad. The five aircraft detachment is covered in conjuction with ER.030 from Reims, which operates the F.1CR reconnaissance version.
Mirage F.1CT number 260 (30-QB) taxies out of its shelter for the first mission of the afternoon.
260's stablemate for the first mission was this Mirage F.1B, note that these sport a blue-grey scheme in contrast
to the grey and green camouflage worn by the F.1CT's.
226 (30-SY) is towed from one of the three HAS areas towards the maintenance hanger at Colmar.
It now appears that only two HAS areas are in use and only one small maintenance hanger.
Dassault Mirage F.1CT number 253 (30-QU) returns from an afternoon mission
The Dassault Mirage F.1B (seen above) has been in service with the French Air Force since 1980 and based at Colmar-Meyenheim since July 2005, when they moved from Reims and took on the training role for pilot conversion to the F.1C, CT and R models that were all in service at the time.
Two more F.1CT's return from their afternoon mission on 25th August 2008. The average mission time is forty five minutes and during that period they conduct what the French call BFM (Basic Flying Manouvre) missions against each other in a one versus one scenario.
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The Mirage F.1CT began its life in 1977 as the Mirage F.1C-200. Due to a potential lack of aircraft for the multi-role scenario when Mirage 5's and Jaguars began to be withdrawn the Armee de L'Air required additional aircraft, and with the Dassault Rafale not due to come on stream for some time they decided to 'upgrade' some surplus F.1's.
Therefore in 1992 some fifty five were converted to F.1CT standard. It has both air to air and air to ground capability with Mach 2 performance from its SNECMA Atar 9K-50 engine
Finally, to finish on a high note a couple of shots of Mirage F.1B number 518. This aircraft visited Fairford in July for the Royal International Air Tattoo 2008, which sadly was cancelled on both days due to extraordinary amounts of rain. That meant that many missed what is undoubtedly one of the nicest colour schemes applied to a fighter jet for some time and one we were keen to photograph on home soil. As mentioned above it was painted for a ceremony in June and commemorates the 'Alsace' squadron that can trace it's history back to World War Two when it flew Supermarine Spitfires. When we visited she was tucked away in a HAS, but thankfully we managed to get her towed out into the sun for some photographs. So here she is in all her spleandour.............
518 in all her glory sits in the Colmar HAS area
Close up of the squadron badge that appears below the cockpit showing 341 (French) Squadron Royal Air Force
The left-hand side of the fin illustrating a Spitfire, Mirage III and Ouragon
Our thanks go to the following in arranging and escorting us during our visit to BA.132:-
Aspirant Stephanie Trepo
Lt. 'Lio' Helmer from RC.01/030
Naima Bachirat
Ludovic Jost