Swiss Air Force
The Swiss Air Force is the air component of the Swiss Armed Forces, established on 31 July 1914, three days after the outbreak of World War I, as a part of the army and in October 1936 as an independent service.
In peacetime, Dübendorf is the operational air force headquarters. The Swiss Air Force operates from several fixed bases but its personnel are also trained to carry out air operations from temporary highway airstrips. In case of crisis or war, several stretches of road are specially prepared for this option.
History
Early years
The first military aviation in Switzerland took the form of balloon transport, pioneered by Swiss balloonist Eduard Spelterini, but by 1914 there was still little official support for an air corps. The outbreak of World War I changed opinions drastically and cavalry officer Theodor Real was charged with forming a flying corps. He commandeered three civilian aircraft at Bern's airfield and set about training the initial nine pilots at a makeshift airfield close to Wankdorf Stadium, later moving to a permanent home at Dübendorf. Switzerland remained neutral and isolated during the conflict, and the air corps confined its activities to training and exercises, reconnaissance and patrol. It was only with the worsening international situation in the 1930s that an effective air force was established at great cost, with up-to-date Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Morane-Saulnier D‐3800 fighters ordered from Germany and France respectively. The Swiss Air Force as an autonomous military service was created in October 1936.World War II
Although Switzerland remained neutral throughout World War II, it had to deal with numerous violations of its airspace by combatants from both sides – initially by German aircraft, especially during their invasion of France in 1940. Zealous Swiss pilots attacked and shot down eleven German aircraft, losing two of their own, before a threatening memorandum from the German leadership forced General Guisan to forbid air combat above Swiss territory.Later in the war, the Allied bomber offensive sometimes took US or British bombers into Swiss airspace, either damaged craft seeking safe haven or even on occasions bombing Swiss cities by accident. Swiss aircraft would attempt to intercept individual aircraft and force them to land, interning the crews. Only one further Swiss pilot was killed during the war, shot down by a US fighter in September 1944. From September red and white neutrality bands were added to the wings of aircraft to stop accidental attacks on Swiss aircraft by Allied aircraft.
From 1943 Switzerland shot down American and British aircraft, mainly bombers, overflying Switzerland during World War II: six by Swiss air force fighters and nine by flak cannons. 36 Allied airmen were killed. On 1 October 1943 the first American bomber was shot down near Bad Ragaz: Only three men survived. Officers were interned in Davos, airmen in Adelboden. The representative of the U.S. military in Bern, U.S. military attaché Barnwell R. Legge, instructed the soldiers not to flee so as to allow the U.S. Legation to coordinate their escape attempts, but the majority of the soldiers thought it was a diplomatic ruse or did not receive the instruction directly.
On 1 October 1944 Switzerland housed 39,670 internees in all: 20,650 from Italy, 10,082 from Poland, 2,643 from the United States, 1,121 from the United Kingdom, 822 from the Soviet Union, and 245 from France. In September the Office of Strategic Services was commissioned by the U.S. Supreme Command to organize the escapes of 1,000 American internees, but the task was not effectively accomplished before late winter 1944/45. Soldiers who were caught after their escape from the internment camp, were often detained in the Wauwilermoos internment camp near Luzern.
Official Swiss records identify 6,501 airspace violations during the course of the war, with 198 foreign aircraft landing on Swiss territory and 56 aircraft crashing there.
With the threat of WW2 and the possible need for the army and civilian population to retreat into the mountains as proposed by General Guisan, it was clear that the army air force needed the ability to attack enemy ground forces in the mountains. To practice this Axalp was selected. After WW2 ground attack by jet aircraft was practiced at Axalp, including strafing and bombing exercises.
During the Cold War, military liaison officers from western, eastern and non-aligned nations were invited to the screenings. Nowadays Axalpfliegerschiessen is a performance by the Air Force for anyone interested. It is the only event where everybody may have a look at a live exercise at 1,700 m above sea level. The use of helicopter ops at high altitudes, search & rescue and firefighting demonstrations also have become a large part of the Axalp air show.
Cold War
After World War II, the service was renamed Airforce and Anti-Aircraft Command. In 1966, this became a separate service independent from the Army, under its present name Schweizer Luftwaffe.With the prospect of a future World War 3 involving nuclear weapons, jet aircraft were purchased: 75 De Havilland Vampires in 1950, followed by over 100 De Havilland Venoms and the same number of Hawker Hunters. The Venoms served until 1983; Vampires until 1990 and Hunters even until 1994. In the late 1940s Switzerland purchased the North American P-51 Mustang from US surplus WW2 stock. The aircraft initially was intended as a stop-gap solution for the Swiss army in order to maintain a defence force during a time when the outdated Bf 109E's and Swiss built D-3801 Moranes were being phased out but the licensed production of the British designed Dh-100 Vampires and Dh-112 Venoms was not in full swing.
At the end of the 1950s, reflecting both the threat of possible invasion by the Soviet Union and a nuclear warfare, Swiss military doctrine changed to mobile defence that included missions outside its territory, in order to defeat stand-off attacks and nuclear threats, including the possibility of defensive employment of air-delivered nuclear weapons. However the inability to field a force capability to carry out such missions led to the return of traditional "protection of own territory" doctrine. Meanwhile, the army started preparing ad hoc airbases in the mountains, with sections of highway strengthened to act as runways and hangars carved out of the mountains.
In 1954 the first Air Radar Recruit School activated, the first early warning radar systems were installed and the concept of command & control facilities at mountain summits was introduced; leading to acquisition of the FLORIDA early warning and command guidance system in 1965 followed by the current FLORAKO system in 2003. At the same time, ground-based air defence projects were initiated such as radar-equipped medium-caliber guns with an integrated 63 Superfledermaus fire control system' as well as the BL-64 ‘Bloodhound’ air defence missile system.
After the prototypes EFW N-20 and FFA P-16, Switzerland did not invest in development combat aircraft anymore. In 1964 the procurement of the Dassault Mirage 3 fighters caused a scandal due to severe budget overruns. The commander, the chief of the general staff and the minister of defence were forced to resign, followed by a complete restructuring of the air force and air defence units in 1968 and leading to separation of users and procurement officials.
In February 1968, the airfield brigade 32 was founded as part of a reorganization. The airbase group comprised all military airfields in Switzerland, around 16,000 members of the army. Built up by a:
- brigadestaff, airfield regiments Valais, Berner Oberland, Central Switzerland and Ticino and a nationwide operating Light airfield division.
The Patrouille Suisse aerobatics team was founded in 1964, the 50th anniversary year of Swiss army aviation.
In 1969, air force logistics and air defence were reassigned into brigades, the Armed Forces Meteo Group and Avalanche Rescue Service came under air force and air defence command and the Para Reconnaissance Company was established.
In the 1970s major manoeuvres with over 22,000 participants took place. A new air defence concept was also introduced in which the air superiority fighter in interceptor role stood central. In 1974 the first 2 Northrop F-5 Tiger fighters were tested and in 1978 the first F-5 Tiger fighter/interceptor squadron became operational.
Post-Cold War
In the late 1980s changing political and military world situations implied the need for multirole aircraft in the Air Force. After evaluation, the performance of the F/A-18 Hornet was decisive in its selection. Designed for carrier-borne operations, it was optimally suited to operate from very short runways with steep take-offs. Its radar allowed detection of multiple targets and simultaneously engaging with medium-range air-to-air missiles.Between 1996 and 1999, 34 licence-built Hornets left the assembly lines at Emmen. As the F/A-18 size is larger than either the Mirage III or Tiger II the caverns in the mountains used to protect the aircraft had to be enlarged, a continuing process as of 2011.
The 100th anniversary of the Swiss Air Force has been celebrated in 2014 with the airshow Air14 at Payerne.
Missions
is a small country which has always kept its neutrality. Therefore, its air component is also limited in size and not capable of fighting a long-term full scale air conflict. So the main Swiss Air Force mission is to guarantee Swiss air sovereignty and air defence throughout the country. This is achieved by:- maintaining general airspace control preventing unauthorised airspace intrusion through round-the-clock radar coverage
- a 24/7 air policing as an active airspace protection.