The Danish Navy Air Squadron ( Danish : Søværnets Helikoptertjeneste ), was the aerial component of the Danish navy , from 1977 to December 31, 2010. Operationally it was directly under command of the Danish Naval Command , but maintenance of the eight Westland Lynx helicopters and training of personnel was in cooperation with the air force . The helicopters were used primarily for fishery patrol, shipboard support and coastal Search & Rescue (SAR) missions.
6-427: The tasks and hardware have now been transferred to the air force as Eskadrille 723 ( Squadron 723 ). The squadron was originally a flight in the air force eskadrille 722 (722nd Squadron) when the first Alouette III helicopter was received in 1962. In 1977 the flight was made into a unit of its own and became a part of the navy, under the name Søværnets Flyvetjeneste ( The Naval Air Service ). In 1980-1982
12-861: Is located between Herning and Viborg in central Denmark. It is a dual civil-military airport. It was originally built by the Germans in WW2 as Fliegerhorst Grove , and taken over by the RDAF post war. Since 2004 it has been the main helicopter base for the Danish Defence . Runway data: Location: N56° 17' 50.85" E009° 07' 28.66", Elev: 170 ft (52 m), Rwy 04/22, Size: 2936 x 50 ft (895 x 15 m), Rwy 09/27, Size: 2789 x 197 ft (850 x 60 m), Rwy 09R/27L, Size: 9607 x 150 ft (2928 x 46 m), Rwy 09L/27R, Size: 9816 x 75 ft (2992 x 23 m), Rwy 14/32, Size: 2296 x 60 ft (700 x 18 m). The Westland Super Lynx
18-597: The Danish air force to possess so many helicopters. Because of that the Naval Air Service was transformed into the Naval Air Squadron on 1 January 2004. A Danish navy helicopter foiled a pirate attack off Somali coast, 28 August 2010. Order of Battle on 31 December 2010, the day it was disbanded: Vaerlose (ICAO code: EKVL) Vaerlose is located northwest of Copenhagen , only about 20 km from
24-602: The city centre. It was originally constructed as an army camp in 1910 and rebuild as a military airfield in the 1930s. After WW2 RDAF operations were resumed, principally with transport aircraft. It became the main base of the Naval Air Service in 1962. On 1 April 2004 the airfield was closed as a military base, due to military budget cuts, and handed over to civilian use in October 2008. Runway data: Location: N55° 46' 3" E012° 20' 36", Elev: 58 ft (18 m), Rwy 28/10, Size: 8061 x 150 ft (2457 x 46 m). Karup (ICAO: EKKA) Karup
30-500: The eight Alouette helicopters were replaced with the new Westland Lynx helicopters. In 2000 it was decided that Søværnets Flyvetjeneste should be transferred to the air force as a squadron ( 728th Squadron ) and put under operational command of the air force command along with the Army Air Corps ( Hærens Flyvetjeneste ), but for a political reason only the army units were transferred to the air force (as 724th Squadron ). At
36-461: The same time, all the Danish helicopter units were also to move physically from Værløse Air Station and Vandel Air Station to Karup Air Station . The total number of helicopters in the air force would have been 8 Sikorsky S-61A , 13 Eurocopter AS550C2 Fennec , 16 Hughes H-500C Cayuse and 8 Westland Lynx Mk.90B as well as 14 AgustaWestland EH-101 Merlin under purchase - a grand total of 59 helicopters. International obligations didn't allow for
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