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Taszár Air Base
Taszar Air Base - aerial view
IATA: none – ICAO: LHTA
Summary
Airport type Military
Location Taszár, Hungary
Elevation AMSL 156 m / 512 ft
Coordinates 46°23′36″N 017°55′06″E / 46.39333°N 17.91833°E / 46.39333; 17.91833
Map
LHTAL is located in Hungary
Airplane silhouette
LHTAL
Location of Taszár Air Base
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
16/34 2,500 8,202 Concrete
Source: HungaryAirport.hu[1]

Taszár Air Base (ICAO: LHTA) is a military air base located near Taszár, a village in Somogy county, Hungary. It is 10 kilometres (5 NM) east of Kaposvár.[1]

GlobalSecurity.org says that "In 1949 the new airfield, which is still in use today, was constructed using conscripted labor. The new runways were hard-topped and became the base of the Hungarian 50th Fighter Regiment. On September 1, 1958, the Defense Ministry made the decision to reorganize the structure of the Hungarian Air Force. It was at this time that the 31st Fighter Regiment was ordered to form. Independent training within the 31st began in 1959. A quantum jump in the quality of training was the introduction of the MiG-19 in 1959, and the introduction of the MiG-21 in 1962."[2]

From December 1995, it became the primary staging post for U.S. peacekeeping forces coming and going into the Balkans. It was the closest airfield to the Balkans capable of landing strategic aircraft, with good rail and road links. The base then evolved into the first site for unmanned Predator aircraft missions, a rest and recreation site for Balkan based soldiers, a training ground for armored units and a home base for aircraft that made reconnaissance and bombing runs to stop ethnic-cleansing in Kosovo.

In more recent times,[when?] it hosted the largest special operations exercise in Europe and served as the site for training the Free Iraqi Forces before March 2003. The U.S. flag was lowered on NATO's first military base in former Warsaw Pact territory as the American presence there came to an end in a ceremony on 30 June 2004. The overall successes of the NATO missions in Bosnia and Kosovo and the smaller number of soldiers required there eliminated the need for U.S./NATO use of Taszar.

As of April 2014, it is reported "disused".[3]

Facilities[]

The air base is at an elevation of 156 metres (512 ft) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 16/34 with an concrete surface measuring 2,500 by 70 metres (8,202 ft × 230 ft).[1]

References[]

  • David Oliver (ed.), 'East European Air Power,' No.3 in the AFM Airpower Series, Air Forces Monthly/Key Publishing, 1991(?)

External links[]


All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Taszár Air Base and the edit history here.
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