Black Forest Airport

Black Forest Airport airport codes|LHA|EDTL is a privately owned and operated commercial airport located in Lahr, Federal Republic of Germany. Formerly known as Canadian Forces Base Lahr, or CFB Lahr, the Canadian Forces Base was operated primarily as an air force base, and later as an army base, during the late 1960s. The military base was closed in 1994 and converted to civilian use.

__NOTOC__Infobox Airport
name = Black Forest Airport
nativename =
nativename-a =
nativename-r =


image-width =
caption =
IATA = LHA
ICAO = EDTL
type = Commercial
owner = Flugplatz GmbH
operator = Flugplatz GmbH
city-served = Lahr
location = Lahr, Germany
elevation-f =
elevation-m =
coordinates = Coord|48|22|9.30|N|07|49|39.8|E|type:airport_region:DE
website = http://www.blackforest-airport.com/englisch/index.html
metric-elev =
metric-rwy =
r1-number = 03/21
r1-length-f = 9,842
r1-length-m = 3,475
r1-surface = Asphalt

History

Canada established a presence at Lahr during the 1950s with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).

In the early 1950s, the RCAF established No. 1 Air Division to meet Canada's NATO air defence commitments in Europe. No. 1 Air Division consisted of twelve fighter squadrons located in four wings. Two wings were located in France (No. 1 Wing and No. 2 Wing) and two were located in West Germany (No. 3 Wing and No. 4 Wing). Eight air division squadrons were replaced by (nuclear) strike aircraft in 1962 in support of Canada's new and controversial nuclear strike role.

In 1963, the Government of France announced that all nuclear weapons located on French soil (NATO or French) would be controlled by France itself. This was unacceptable to the RCAF (and other NATO units stationed in France), so the two nuclear strike squadrons at 2 Wing were hastily moved in fall 1963 to Zweibrücken and Baden-Soellingen while remaining non-nuclear armed units in France were repositioned to Marville.

In March 1966, the Government of France announced that it would be withdrawing its military forces from NATO and that current NATO units based in France must leave or fall under French military command. This forced the RCAF to look for a home in western Europe for 1 Wing and 1 Air Division Headquarters. They settled on Base Aérienne 139 Lahr which the Armée de l'Air was vacating as per the French government's announced withdrawal from NATO. RCAF personnel, aircraft and equipment were transferred to the new RCAF Station Lahr by March 1967 with dependents to follow later. The RCAF moved Marville's 439 and 441 Squadrons to Lahr in April 1967. In 1971 the latter squadron moved to CFB Baden-Soellingen and changed its name to 441 Tactical Fighter Squadron.

On February 1, 1968 the RCAF merged with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and Canadian Army to form the unified Canadian Forces. RCAF Station Lahr was renamed Canadian Forces Base Lahr, shortened to CFB Lahr. As part of cuts to reduce costs by consolidation, 3 Wing at RCAF Station Zweibrücken was closed with its units consolidating at CFB Lahr and CFB Baden-Soellingen.

Further defence cuts and consolidation saw the Canadian Army (then renamed to Force Mobile Command) units based in Soest area of northern West Germany, along with those units based in nearby Hemer-Deilinghofen, Werl, and Unna, moved to CFB Lahr (some also moved to CFB Baden-Soellingen), with air force units concentrated at CFB Baden-Soellingen. The cuts resulted in a drawback of the air force from six squadrons to three which were reorganized under the new 1 Canadian Air Group banner.

Army units stationed at CFB Lahr were organised under 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group and were mostly heavy armour (using Centurian tanks) or mechanized infantry equipped with the M113 family of Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC).

CFB Lahr was home to:
* 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group Headquarters and Signal Squadron
* one armoured regiment
**1970-1987 - The Royal Canadian Dragoons
**1987-1993 - 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's)
* 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery
* 4 Combat Engineer Regiment, air defence,
* 4 Service Battalion
* 4 Field Ambulance
* 1er Batallion, Royal 22e Régiment
* 444 Squadron (helicopters)

Military closure and rebirth

CFB Lahr maintained an important defence installation for NATO until the fall of the Berlin Wall, and reunification of Germany eliminated the role for permanent deployment of the Canadian Forces in western Europe. The closure of CF bases in Germany and redeployment was announced in the 1990 budget.

CFB Baden-Soellingen closed its airfield on March 31, 1993 and most units had departed by that summer. The base remained as a detachment of CFB Lahr until it was permanently closed December 31, 1993.

The last unit to leave CFB Lahr was 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group on August 31, 1993. CFB Lahr was officially decommissioned and closed a year later on August 31, 1994.

Lahr reopened as a civil airport in 1996.

References

Links

* [http://www.lahrbrat.com LahrBrat.com] , website for former CFB Lahr residents
* [http://www.derkanadier.de/ "Der Kanadier" was the weekly newspaper for the Canadian Forces stationed in Europe ]