Meeting du Centenaire  BA112 Reims,  28 June 2009

At first I planned to make a combined trip to the Meeting du Centenaire at Reims and the Airpower 2009 at Zeltweg. Some of my friends decided to visit Zeltweg only. In the end I decided to only visit Reims-Champagne.

On Saturday afternoon Mike, Niels and I left for Verdun where we planned to spent the night at a F1 Hotel. On our way to the hotel we drove by Etain-Rouvres. We couldn't resist having a quick look at this former USAFE airbase and were happy to take some shots of the gateguards here. (see first two shots below)

After we checked in at the F1 Hotel in Verdun we had a nice dinner at the local Buffalo Grill. During the evening some heavy fog clouds came in so we kept our breaths for the day to come. When we woke up the next morning the visibility was only a 100 meters. Luckily when we came closer to BA112 Reims-Champagne the visibility got better and better. We arrived at the parking around eight o'clock in the morning, and the gates opened an hour later.

The main theme of the Meeting was the 100th anniversary of the first Meeting Aérien held in the Champagne area in 1909. Therefore some pretty old aircraft and replica's were present at Reims, both flying and on static display.

After we entered the base we decided to first take some shots of the static display and the flightlines. Unfortunately the position of the aircraft parked at the static display was very disappointing. Many of them were parked in between fences which made it a hell to take good shots of them. Compared to the last Meeting I visited at Reims this was really a disaster.

The interesting part of the flying display started with a fly-by of a C-135FR tanker with two Mirage 2000Ns of Luxeuil. Both Mirages made some very impressive fly-by's afterwards. Lots of aerobatic teams participated in the flying display. The Swiss PC-7 team was my favorite this time, as we had some nice photo opportunities.

We decided to wait for the display of the Rafale, which was really impressive. After the Rafale landed we quickly packed our stuff and walked back to the parking. The big crowd was still on base witnessing the display of the Patrouille de France, so we hardly had any traffic jams.

In the end the Meeting du Centenaire at BA112 Reims-Champagne was very disappointing. As said before it was very hard to take good shots of the static display. And the flying display was very disappointing as well. The gaps in between the displays was very disturbing and we didn't see any Mirage F.1s flying, which was also one of our main goals.                 (Click here for a full log)

History of BA112 Reims-Champagne

In 1925 the decision was taken to create an military air base in the Courcy region on the ruins of the military school of aviation which was destroyed during World War I. The first squadron arrived at the air base in 1928, flying the Breguet 19. In 1933 the 4th Fighter Squadron operating the Dewoitine 500 and 501 installed themselves at BA112.

On the eve of World War II the air base had 1800 men personnel of which three hundred pilots flying various types. BA112 was bombed by the German Air Force on May 10th 1940 and in June 20th that same year it fell into German hands who named it “Flugplatz A213/XI”. The following year the Junkers Factory installed their workshops here to prepair its Junker Ju-88 bombers, which arrived by trains. Later, two squadrons of Heinkel 111 Z were stationed here, which left January 14th 1943 for Stalingrad on the eastern front. The following two years the air base was bombed several times by the Allies. The region of Reims was liberated in September 1944 and occupied by the US Army Air Forces who discovered a destroyed air base. Reims air base changed names again, into HAS 62D and became a very important base to supply the troops marching into Germany.

After the war that air base became very quiet. From 1950 till 1961 the 3rd Fighting Escadre was stationed at BA112 Reims operating the DH.100 Vampires, soon followed by the Republic F-84 Thunderjet. In the year 1953 an aerobatic formation was created within the 3rd Fighting Escadre. This formation became the Patrouille de France, we all know today. In 1956 the Escadre left BA112 to participate in the military operations in the Suez area, and deploys itself to Cyprus. That same era a civil aviation area was created near the air base, making Reims-Champagne a combined military and civil airport.

In 1961 the 3rd was replaced by the 30th Fighter Escadre. One of the most prestigious escadrons of the French Air Force, the glorious EC 2/30 “Normandie Niemen”, installs itself on BA112 in 1966. In the 70s (in the middle of the Cold War) the escadron had several exchanges between French and Soviet pilots.

The modern history of BA112 Reims-Champagne is marked by the landing of the first Mirage F.1 on December 20th 1973. The Mirage F.1 replaced the much older Vautour which operated from the base since 1961. At the end of the 70s the exchanges between Reims and the Soviet Union were suspended because of the war in Afghanistan. However to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the EC 3/30 “Lorraine” the Soviets visited Reims with their aerobatic team “Russian Knights” equipped with the Sukhoi Su-27.

In the 90s the mission of BA112 changes again. The prestigious EC 2/30 “Normandie Niemen” leaves Reims in 1993 for BA132 Colmar-Meyenheim. After the closure of BA124 Strasbourg-Entzheim the recce escadrons ER 1/33 “Belfort” and ER 2/33 “Savoie” each operating twenty Mirage F.1CRs went to BA112 Reims-Champagne. The EC 3/30 still at Reims became also a recce squadron and renamed ER 3/33 “Lorraine”. Due to the closure of BA132 Colmar-Meyenheim some of the old Mirage F.1CTs operated from BA112 Reims since 2008. To this day, Reims still operates with approximately forty Mirage F.1s, however in the near future the Mirage F.1s will be withdrawn from use, and BA112 Reims-Champagne will be closed in 2010.