Everything about Airbase totally explained
» For the Swedish musician who is known as "Airbase", see Jezper Söderlund.
An
Airbase, sometimes referred to as an
Air Force Station, a
military airport or
airfield, provides basing and support of
military aircraft.
Some airbases provide facilities very like civilian airports. For example,
RAF Brize Norton in
Oxfordshire,
England has a terminal which caters for passengers for the
Royal Air Force's scheduled flights, for example, the
TriStar to the
Falkland Islands.
Some airbases are built underground, such as
Slatina airport.
Other structures and equipment are specific to military airfields, for example:
In the UK, the
Royal Air Force (RAF) simply call their bases
Royal Air Force Stations, followed by the station name. This is often abbreviated into "RAF" - then the name, such as
RAF Marham. They are generally named after the closest
Railway station (because historically, in the early days of the RAF, rail travel was the only means of transport available to service personnel), although there are exceptions. For example, the former
RAF Coltishall should have been named "RAF Buxton" after the small local rail station, but this would have caused confusion with the larger town of
Buxton in
Derbyshire, and was therefore named after the nearest village. Many RAF stations have long since lost their local railway station. For those RAF stations without any rail head, they were simply named after either the local village, or used the name of the relevant building which they resided in, such as
RAF Bentley Priory. There is no difference in nomenclature for non-flying RAF Stations, and overseas RAF bases have followed the same principals.
The aviation division of the
Royal Navy (RN), the
Fleet Air Arm (FAA) generally follow the same principals of naming as the RAF, but are instead prefixed with
Royal Naval Air Station, or RNAS for short, such as
RNAS Yeovilton. However, in maintaining the maritime link, all Royal Naval Air Stations are additionally named in the same manner as the Navy's ships - in Yeoviltons' instance, it's also called
HMS Heron.
For the
British Army aviators, the
Army Air Corps, they've previously used the term "Airfield", preceded by the local name, for example Wattisham Airfield. However, as the majority of current Army airfields are actually defunct RAF stations, they now follow the same nomenclature methods as the RAF and RN, and precede the locality name with "Army Air Corps" (often abbreviated to AAC). For example, the former RAF Middle Wallop is now
AAC Middle Wallop. Unfortunately, some AAC bases may also be known by the
Garrison name!
The British
Coast Guard,
Her Majesty's Coastguard, generally don't have their own dedicated air bases. Most Coast Guard aircraft are usually operated from a "host" airfield, which may be either military or civil.
The
United States Air Force, and its components (
Air Force Reserve &
Air National Guard) call their bases
Air Force Bases,
Air Reserve Bases, or Air National Guard Bases; most of them are named after a person of military or governmental significance (for example,
Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan;
Edwards Air Force Base, California; General Mitchell Air Reserve Base, Wisconsin).
Those with very little or no
flying activity are called Air Force Stations (for example, Jackson Barracks Air Guard Station, Louisiana;
Onizuka Air Force Station, California).
Air Force Bases located in other countries are called Air Bases, and are usually named after the city or region where they're located (for example, Spandalhem Air Base, Germany).
The
United States Army calls its air bases Army Airfields, and, like the Air Force, names most of them after a military figure (for example, Polk Army Airfield, Louisiana;
Biggs Army Airfield, TX).
The
United States Navy,
United States Marine Corps, and
United States Coast Guard call their air bases Air Stations and generally name them after the area where they're located (for example,
Pensacola Naval Air Station, Florida; Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station, North Carolina; Kodiak Coast Guard Air Station, Alaska).
Road airbase
Road airbases are
highways constructed to double as auxiliary airbases in the event of war. Nations known to utilise this strategy are
Sweden (External Link
) (
vägbas, literally meaning "road base"),
Finland (
maantietukikohta),
Germany and Poland (DOL - Drogowy Odcinek Lotniskowy, lit. "road airfield section"). In the case of Finnish road airbases, the space needed for landing aircraft is reduced by means of a wire, similar to the
CATOBAR system used on some aircraft carriers.
(External Link)
Aircraft carrier
An
aircraft carrier is a type of
naval ship which serves as a seaborne airbase, the development of which has greatly enhanced the capabilities of modern
air forces. They are now a key part of the military, allowing for military aircraft to be staged much nearer the theatre of conflict. Aircraft carriers were vital in the
United Kingdom securing victory in the
1982 Falklands War. Recent examples of their use include the
Iraq war, and the military operations to remove the
Taliban from power in
Afghanistan.
Further Information
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