{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{More citations needed|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox airport | name = Salon-de-Provence Air Base | ensign = 50px | nativename = Base aérienne 701 Salon-de-Provence<br>{{smaller|Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) Y-16}} | image = 108 315XY TB.30 Epsilon French Air Force, Salon de Provence May 2007 (3113167903).jpg | image-width = 300 | caption = Socata TB 30 Epsilon trainer, Salon-de-Provence, 2007 | IATA = None | ICAO = LFMY | type = Military | owner = Government of France | operator = Armée de l'air et de l'espace | location = Salon-de-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône | elevation-f = 194 | elevation-m = 59 | coordinates = {{Coord|43|36|23|N|005|06|33|E|type:airport|name=Salon-de-Provence Air Base|display=inline,title}} | pushpin_map = France | pushpin_label = Salon-de-Provence Air Base | pushpin_map_caption = Location of Salon-de-Provence Air Base, France | metric-rwy = y | r1-number = 16/34 | r1-length-f = 6,565 | r1-length-m = 2,001 | r1-surface = Concrete | footnotes = Source: Aerodrome chart at Direction de la Circulation Aerienne Militaire (DIRCAM)<ref name="dircam">[http://www.dircam.air.defense.gouv.fr/dia/PDF/MIAC4%20ENG/MIAC4_LFMY_ENG.pdf LFMY - SALON]</ref> }}
'''Salon-de-Provence Air Base''' ({{langx|fr|Base aérienne 701 Salon-de-Provence|links=no}} or BA 701) {{airport codes||LFMY}} is a base of the French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'air et de l'espace) located {{convert|4|km|abbr=on}} south<ref name="dircam"/> Salon-de-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône in southern France.
==Overview== It hosts the training facilities for the officers of the air force: * Patrouille de France<ref name="CCDL">{{cite web|url=https://www.defense.gouv.fr/air/presentation/chiffres-cles/chiffres-cles-de-l-armee-de-l-air|title=Chiffres clés de l'Armée de l'air - L'Armée de l'air en chiffres : 2019-2020 (FR)|publisher=French Air and Space Force|access-date=3 November 2020|archive-date=19 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119002349/https://www.defense.gouv.fr/air/presentation/chiffres-cles/chiffres-cles-de-l-armee-de-l-air|url-status=dead}}</ref> * Équipe de Voltige de l’Armée de l’Air<ref name="CCDL"/> * Escadron de Formation des Navigateurs de Combat 1/93<ref name="CCDL"/> * Centre de Formation à l'Aéronautique Militaire Initiale 5/312<ref name="CCDL"/> * Escadron D'Instruction en Vol 3/5 Comtat Venaissin<ref name="CCDL"/> * Escadron D'Instruction en Vol 2/93 Cévennes<ref name="CCDL"/> * Escadron D'Instruction au vol à Voile Sainte Victoire<ref name="CCDL"/> * ''École de l'air'': for young students{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} ** pilot commissioned officers{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} ** mechanics commissioned officers{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} ** air base commissioned officers{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} * ''École militaire de l'Air'': gives access to the same careers as the ''École de l'Air'', for non-commissioned officers who want to become commissioned officers{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} * air commissary school{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} * special course of the ''École de l'Air'': for foreign officers{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} * special course of formation of officers{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}
In addition, it hosts a school of the French Navy: the school of Naval Aviation (EAN).{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}
==World War II== Salon-de-Provence Air Base is a pre-World War II airfield, which was used by the Armée de l'Air during the early part of the war. It was briefly a base for RAF Bomber Command Vickers Wellingtons, which were sent to Salon from England, for raids on the Italian port of Genoa, as a part of Operation Haddock.<ref>''The Royal Air Force 1939-1945'', Denis Richards, Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1974, {{ISBN|0-11-771592-1}} (pp.146-147)</ref> After the 1940 Battle of France and the June Armistice with Nazi Germany, it became part of the limited ({{langx|fr|Armée de l'Air de Vichy|links=no}}) air force of the Vichy Government. Known Vichy units at Salon-de-Provence were:<ref>[http://france1940.free.fr/vichy/ada_sep.html ''Armée de l'Air de Vichy Order of Battle''], 1 September 1940</ref> * G.C. I/6 (1) Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 fighters * G.C. III/9 Bloch MB.152 fighters
On 11 November 1942, Salon-de-Provence Air Base was seized by Nazi forces as part of Case Anton, the occupation of Vichy and the Luftwaffe took control of the base. Under German control, the base became a bomber airfield for anti-shipping operations over the Mediterranean against American Convoys, and later, attacking Allied forces on Corsica and Sardinia after their capture from Italian forces (Regio Esercito) during 1943.<ref name="vit1">[http://www.ww2.dk The Luftwaffe, 1933-45]</ref> Known units assigned were: * Kampfgeschwader 100 (KG 100), flying Heinkel He 111Hs, February–April 1943 * Kampfgeschwader 26 (KG 26), flying Heinkel He 111Hs, May 1943-March 1944 * Zerstörergeschwader 1 (ZG 1), flying Messerschmitt Bf 110s, May 1944 : Primarily air defense against Twelfth Air Force Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber attacks on Southern France * Kampfgeschwader 77 (KG 77), flying Junkers Ju 88s, June–July 1944.
It was attacked on several missions by Allied bombers based in England while under German control. The airfield was sized by Allied Forces in August 1944 during Operation Dragoon, the Invasion of Southern France in August 1944 and was repaired and placed into operational use by the United States Army Air Forces XII Engineer Command, being turned over to Twelfth Air Force on 28 August 1944. It was designated as Advanced Landing Ground "Y-16 Salon".<ref name="eng">{{Cite web |url=http://www.ixengineercommand.com/airfields/general.php |title=IX Engineering Command ETO Airfields General Construction Information |access-date=5 October 2009 |archive-date=30 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630184037/http://www.ixengineercommand.com/airfields/general.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Twelfth Air Force stationed the 27th Fighter Squadron at the repaired field from 30 August, flying A-36 Apaches until moving north into eastern France in October. Also the 47th Bombardment Group flew A-20 Havoc light bombers from the field during September.<ref>Maurer, Maurer. ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. {{ISBN|0-89201-092-4}}.</ref>
The use by American forces of the airfield was brief, and on 20 November 1944 it was returned to French control.<ref>Johnson, David C. (1988), U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO), D-Day to V-E Day; Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama. </ref>
==See also==
{{Commons|Base aérienne 701 Salon-de-Provence}} * Advanced Landing Ground
==References== {{Air Force Historical Research Agency}} <references/>
==External links== *[http://www.defense.gouv.fr/sites/air/decouverte/lorganisation/bases_aeriennes/metropole/region_aerienne_sud/ba_701_salon_de_provence French Air Force link] * [http://www.ba701.air.defense.gouv.fr/ Official site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050306104142/http://www.ba701.air.defense.gouv.fr/ |date=6 March 2005 }} * {{NWS-current|LFMY}}
{{Air force academies}} {{Navboxes |list = {{USAAF 12th Air Force World War II}} }}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salon-De-Provence Air Base}} Category:French Air and Space Force bases Category:French Naval Aviation bases Category:Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in France Category:Military airbases established in 1935 Category:Salon-de-Provence