Lajes Field
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| Lajes Air Base
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| IATA: TER – ICAO: LPLA | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Military | ||
| Operator | FAP/Comando Aéreo dos Açores | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 55 m / 180 ft | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| m | ft | ||
| 15/33 | 3,312 | 10,865 | Asphalt/Concrete |
Lajes Field (or Air Base No. 4), (IATA: TER, ICAO: LPLA), is a Portuguese Air Force facility, used by the United States Air Force, and located near Lajes on Terceira Island in the Azores, Portugal. Located about 2,300mi/3,680km east of New York City and about 1,000mi/1,600km west of Lisbon, Portugal, the base sits in a strategic location midway between North America and Europe in the North Atlantic Ocean. The USAF portion of the base is operated by the 65th Air Base Wing of United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE).
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[edit] History
After the Achada airfield was condemned due to its inadequate dimensions and the adverse weather conditions a different site for an airfield was chosen on Terceira in 1934. This site was the plainland of Lajes, the present site of Air Base 4 and Lajes Field. The Portuguese military constructed a landing strip of packed earth and a small group of support facilities.
[edit] World War II
During World War II, the Portuguese government expanded the runway and sent troops and equipment to Lajes including Gloster Gladiator aircraft. The military activities in the Azores grew in 1942 as the Gladiators evolved into flying cover for allied convoys, reconnaissance missions, and meteorological flights. Also in July 1942, the first JU52 arrived flying cargo transportation missions. The Portuguese government allied with the United States and Britain to use the field during the war.
In 1943, the British were allowed basing rights in Portugal and took over Lajes Field. The Azores permitted British aircraft to protect Allied shipping in the Atlantic.
On December 1, 1943, British and U.S. military representatives at Lajes Field signed a joint agreement outlining roles and responsibilities for U.S. military presence at Lajes Field. The plan set forth guidelines for U.S. ferried and transport aircraft to make a limited number of landings at Lajes Field. In return, the United States agreed to assist the British in improving and extending existing facilities at Lajes. Air Transport Command aircraft began landing at Lajes Field immediately after the agreement was signed. By the end of June 1944 more than 1,900 American aircraft had passed through this Azorean base. By using Lajes Field, flying time between the United States and North Africa could be cut from 70 hours to 40 hours because aircraft could fly directly to North Africa instead of using the more circuitous route of crossing the Atlantic between Brazil and West Africa.
[edit] Post-War
The United States and the United Kingdom transferred control of Lajes to Portugal in 1946. The Portuguese redesignated Lajes as Air Base 4 and assigned it to the air branch of the Portuguese Army. However, talks between the U.S. and Portugal began about extending the American stay in the Azores. A temporary agreement was reached between the U.S. and Portuguese governments giving the U.S. military rights to Lajes Field for an additional 18 months. The relationship between the Portuguese and U.S. still exists today. Lajes Field remains Portuguese Air Base 4 under the direction of Headquarters Azores Air Zone commanded by Portuguese Air Force brigadeiro (equal to a U.S. two-star general). The U.S. military resides at Lajes under tenancy status.
In 1953, the Commander-in-Chief, United States Atlantic Command organized a subordinate unified command in the Azores called U.S. Forces Azores (USFORAZ). A small staff of Navy, Army and Air Force personnel comprised the joint staff of USFORAZ, serving as the liaison between the U.S. and the Portuguese in the Azores.
In the late 1950s, USAF air refueling/tanker aircraft were stationed at Lajes to provide inflight refueling for U.S. aircraft transiting the Atlantic Ocean. The tanker units left Lajes by 1965. This transfer, coupled with the introduction of newer aircraft with longer ranges, caused a gradual decline in Lajes traffic. The Military Air Transport Service (MATS) and its successor, the Military Airlift Command (MAC), became responsible for USAF activities at the base, and for a time the 1605th Military Airlift Support Wing acted as USAF host unit.
Lajes Field also played a crucial role in Cold War politics. From 1932 to 1968, Portugal was under the dictatorship of Oliveira Salazar, but the U.S. Government had little desire to remove him from power. With rising postwar tensions between East and West, the United States understood the importance of Lajes Field and remained a close friend of the Portuguese Government of the time.
Another important Cold War operation at Lajes involved the U.S. Navy, which established Naval Air Facility Lajes (NAF Lajes) as a tenant activity at the air base. NAF Lajes, and its associated Tactical Support Center (TSC) / Antisubmarine Warfare Operations Center (ASWOC), supported rotational detachments of U.S. Navy P-2 Neptune and later P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft that would track Soviet attack, guided missile and ballistic missile submarines in the region. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War, P-3 operations at Lajes declined and the Naval Air Facility was subsequently disestablished in the late 1990s.
During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Lajes Field also supported U.S. airlift missions to Israel, highlighting the importance of the U.S. Air Force maintaining basing facilities at Lajes.
In 1976, a Venezuelan Air Force C-130 Hercules crashed while attempting an emergency landing during Hurricane Emi. On final approach, a wind gust slammed the aircraft into a hillside, killing all 68 people aboard. Most of the passengers were members of the student chorus of the University of Caracas, who were on a European concert tour.
In 1980, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale struck Terceira Island. Damage to Lajes Field was minimal, but Portuguese communities throughout the island suffered extensive damage. Military personnel responded with food, shelter, equipment, and manpower.
In the summer of 1984, Lajes undertook a new mission known as "SILK PURSE." EC-135s began operating out of Lajes Field as an airborne command post for the U.S. Commander-in-Chief, Europe. Along with the aircraft came U.S. European Command battle staffs and flight crews from United States Air Forces in Europe. This mission was deactivated in late August 1991.
Lajes supported the massive airlift during the Gulf War. On the first day of the deployment over 90 aircraft transited Lajes. Strategic Air Command (SAC) staged a provisional tanker wing at Lajes to support the airlift. At the height of the operation a peak of 33 tanker aircraft and 600 troops deployed to Lajes. Soon after the Gulf War ended, Lajes command changed from Air Mobility Command, to Air Combat Command.
On August 24, 2001, Air Transat Flight 236 between Toronto, Canada and Lisbon made an emergency landing at Lajes with no loss of life after running out of fuel over the Atlantic and gliding about 120 km (75 miles). The Airbus A330 had 293 passenger and 13 crew members.
[edit] Current status
Lajes provides support to 15,000 aircraft including fighters from the US and 20 other allied nations each year. The geographic position has made this airbase strategically important to both American and NATO's warfighting capability. In addition, a small commercial aviation terminal handles scheduled and chartered flights from North America and the European mainland as well as commercial air traffic with the other islands in the Azorean archipelago.
Today, Lajes continues to support transiting aircraft. Beginning in 1997, large scale fighter aircraft movements under the new USAF operating concept known as the Air Expeditionary Force (AEF) filled the Lajes flightline. Lajes also has hosted B-52 and B-1 bomber aircraft on global air missions, as well as supporting many routine NATO exercises, such as the biennial Northern Viking exercise. Lajes Field services aircraft from various nations, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Colombia, Germany, Spain, Venezuela, and the United Kingdom. It is also an alternative landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle orbiter.
In August, 2006, Portuguese news agencies reported that both governments were in discussions for a new agreement that could allow the use of Lajes for the training of a permanent F-22 Raptor squadron. Since 1943, the use of Lajes by the U.S. military allowed Portugal to strengthen diplomatic relations with the U.S. as well as obtain military equipment for the Portuguese armed forces, including two A-7P Corsair II squadrons and the co-finance of F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft under the Peace Atlantis I program.
[edit] Scheduled services
- SATA Air Acores (Flores Island, Graciosa Island, Horta, Pico Island, Ponta Delgada, Sao Jorge Island)
- SATA International (Boston [seasonal public charter], Lisbon)
- TAP Air Portugal (Lisbon)
[edit] Tenant units
Lajes Field is the home of the 65th Air Base Wing, which in turn is subordinate to the United States Air Forces in Europe. The wing provides base and en route support for United States Department of Defense, NATO, and other authorized aircraft transiting the installation.
In addition to the 65th Air Base Wing, other units at Lajes Field include U.S. Army Military Traffic Management Command’s 1324th Military Port Command, U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command’s 729th Air Mobility Support Squadron, Detachment 6 of the Air Force News Agency, Detachment 250 - Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Defense Property Disposal Office, and the Defense Commissary Agency.
Lajes Field is also the home of the 65th Communication Squadron, which provides communication in the form of ground radio, ground radar,SatCom (Satellite Communications), and cryptography to the base.
[edit] Lajes in fiction
In David Graham's paperback Down to a Sunless Sea, during the nuclear war, Lajes is hit by a neutron bomb to kill as many personnel as possible but to preserve the installation as a refueling point for a Soviet conventional attack on the United States. However, one survivor, Eddie Burns, emerges from a records room deep underground. Meanwhile, an Airbrit flight conveniently finds Lajes intact as they are running out of fuel and contemplating a crash landing on a nearby island. The Airbrit survivors find plenty of food and plenty of aviation fuel. Eddie helps Captain Scott and the British SAS commandos get the radar working again and use a teletype machine to contact other survivors, one of whom is able to indicate that the American South Pole base at McMurdo has seven years worth of provisions for a thousand people plus nuclear power, which means that all the Airbrit crew and passengers can fly out without bringing food and fuel with them. Meanwhile, the base radar picks up a Soviet Antonov military freighter approaching, and the SAS commandos take up defensive positions. The plane lands and turns out to be full of Russian villagers, as two female Soviet Air Force personnel have stolen the aircraft to rescue their families and neighbors. Like Captain Scott, they concluded that Lajes was the logical destination, and their Antonov was also almost out of fuel. Both planes refuel and leave the next morning for McMurdo with radiation levels rising.
[edit] References
- Canada Flight Supplement. Effective 0901Z 10 April 2008 to 0901Z 5 June 2008
- Ravenstein, Charles A., Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977, Office of Air Force History, 1984
[edit] External links
- Terceira Destinations
- Lajes Field Official Home Page
- United States Air Forces in Europe
- Ramstein Air Base
- RAF Mildenhall
- Air Mobility Command
- Air Force News Agency
- 65th Air Base Wing
- Global Security
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