Orly Air Base
| Orly Air Base American Air Service Acceptance Park No. 1 Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) A-47 |
|
|---|---|
| Part of Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) |
|
| Located near: Paris, France | |
American Air Service Acceptance Park No. 1, 1919
|
|
Orly Air Base - 1955
|
|
| Coordinates | 48°44′02″N 002°22′30″E / 48.73389°N 2.37500°E |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by |
|
| Site history | |
| Built | 1918 |
| In use | 1918-1919 1940-1967 |
| Battles/wars |
 World War I  World War II |
Orly Air Base was a United States Air Force Facility during the early part of the Cold War, located at Aeroport de Paris-Orly, nine miles (15 km) south of Paris, France. The American Air Base was located on the north side of the airport, in an area east of the current-day Val-de Marne Essonne.
The facility was first developed as a military airfield by the Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) during World War I. With the end of the war, in 1920 it was eventually developed into a civil airport. After the 1940 Battle of France, the occupying German Luftwaffe sized the facility and used it as a military airfield. In 1944, the Germans were driven out and it subsequently became an Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) designated A-47 for the United States Army Air Forces Ninth Air Force.
Rebuilt after the war as a joint civil/military airfield, the primary use of the base was to support Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) at Rocquencourt. Secondary functions were as a personnel processing center for inbound and outbound personnel assigned to France, and as a limited operational transport base. In 1967 the American military facilities were closed as a result of France's withdrawal from NATO's integrated military command,.
Paris Orly Airport's beginnings date to World War I, and the entry of the United States into the conflict on the Western Front. The Air Service, United States Army had no suitable combat aircraft of its own when it entered the conflict in April 1917, In order to provide an effective contribution to the Allied war effort, it would be required to obtain front-line combat aircraft from its British and French allies. As nearly all of the French aircraft factories were in the Paris area at the time, a place was necessary for the American Air Service to receive aircraft from the French manufacturers in the Paris area where they could be inspected, tested, equipped and be sent to the front line combat units.
...
Wikipedia