Sola Airfield
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Sola Airfield is the militarized area of Sola Airport near Stavanger, Norway. At Sola we find the 134. Wing with Squadrons 330, 334 and 337. All helicopter squadrons. Squadrons 334 and 337 is currently under deployment as they will be using NH-90 helicopters. They will be delivered between 2005 and 2008. Squadron 334 will only have its command post at Sola, as the helicopters will be stationed on the new Fridtjof Nansen Class frigates when they arrive.
History
Sola Airfield was founded at May 29, 1937 by King Haakon VII, and an air show with 42 planes marked the occasion. In 1939, it was decided to station military aircraft on the airfield (because of the tense situation unfolding in Europe at the time). August 5, 1939, the first Caproni bomber landed here.
On April 9, 1940, the bomber squadron was ordered to the east, but before they could take off, six German planes attacked. The bombers were shot to pieces and the airport was seized. Here, the first invasion by paratroopers took place. The Germans even sent weapons containers in parachutes! The next paratrooper invasion took place May 9, 1945. This time, it was British and Norwegian troops that recaptured the airfield.
Squadron 330 was the first Norwegian squadron to land after the war. The squadron had been founded in England during the war and Sola was the first airfield to host Norwegian war planes after the war. Squadron 330 was later disbanded, but the airfield remained as the biggest military airfield in the country up to the 1960s.
In early 1946, Squadron 333 came here, but it was moved to Tromsø during the Korean War. In 1953 it came back, but left for Andøya in 1963.
Squadron 331 came in 1952. It was later disbanded and reformed until it moved to Bodø in 1955.
Squadron 718 was formed here in 1952 and remained until it was disbanded in 1982.
Sola Airfield have been threatened with abandoning, but in the later years, the government has decided that the airfield will be the main airfield for maritime helicopter operations.
