Opening Sola Air Station was founded at May 29, 1937 by
King Haakon VII, an air show with 42 aircraft marking 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 Ca.310 bomber landed here.
Operation Weserübung On April 9, 1940, in reaction to the
German invasion of Norway, the bomber squadron was ordered to the east, but before they could take off, six
German aircraft attacked. The bombers were damaged, only a few getting airborne to later be abandoned elsewhere and the airport was seized. Here, the first opposed landing by
paratroopers took place as 132 German
fallschirmjägers from 1st battalion of the 1st Regiment,
7th Flieger Division were dropped on the airfield. Around 3 fallschirmjägers became casualties as the air station's sole completed
machine gun bunker fired on the attackers until being knocked out by a
hand grenade, seriously wounding the gunner. During the German occupation, the
Luftwaffe used the facility's seaplane base for operations in support of
Kriegsmarine ships based on the Norwegian coast.
Embarked Air Squadron 1/196 made three partial deployments to the facility in 1940 and 1941 before the entire squadron was based there through April and May 1944, after which part of the squadron would remain until into July 1944.
8. Staffel III./
Kampfgeschwader 76 equipped with
Arado Ar 234s operated from the base during the final weeks of the war before surrendering to British forces.
Liberation and post-war The next paratrooper landing at Sola took place May 9, 1945. This time, it was
British and
Norwegian troops that recaptured the airfield. 330 Squadron was the first Norwegian squadron to land after the war. The squadron had been founded in
Britain 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,
333 Squadron came here, but it was moved to
Tromsø during the
Korean War. In 1953 it came back, but left for
Andøya in 1963. 331 Squadron came in 1952. It was later disbanded and reformed until it moved to
Bodø in 1955. 718 Squadron was formed here in 1952 and during the 1970s operated the
Northrop F-5 fighter. The squadron remained until it was disbanded in 1982. Sola Air Station has been considered to be closed, but will continue as a base for maritime helicopter operations.
NATO Use The
United States Air Force 426th Air Base Squadron provides support to 220 U.S. service members and their families working in support of NATO's Joint Warfare Center. The squadron also supports “Operating Location-A” in Oslo, Norway, shipping for $50 million war readiness material and $900 million
U.S. Marine Corps and
U.S. Navy equipment. ==Notes==