The Aviation Magazine No. 54 January-February 2018 | Page 56
After closing the Air Base in Sion at end of 2017, Meiringen will be one of the three fighter jet bases left op‐
erating, along with Air Base Payerne and Air Base Emmen.
The Air Base Meiringen is located near the hamlet of Unterbach and between the town of Meiringen and Bri‐
enz, in the canton of Bern. The wonderful landscape is a feast for the eyes.
ICAO Code LSMM ; Position 46°44´36´´ N 008°06´36´´ E
The airfield is situated in the steep‐sided alpine valley of the Aar river. It is flanked to the north by the main
road to Meiringen, the river, and the Brünig railway line. There is only a single runway, parallel to the river, is
from west to east (10/28) and follows the contours of the valley. The taxiways in the south are quite unusual,
one of them that routes aircraft to and from the cavern on the south side, crosses a public road. Meiringen is
the only Swiss airbase that uses an aircraft cavern in daily operations.
It is the home base to Fliegerstaffel (Squadron) 11 "Tiger", equipped with the McDonnell Douglas F/A‐18 Hor‐
net. The former militia Squadron 8, equipped with the Northrop F‐5E/F Tiger, was dissolved in 2017. The re‐
maining F‐5s will be merged with the other F‐5 squadrons from 2018 onwards.
The Air Base Meiringen is and will remain an important building part of the Swiss Air Force
and at the same time an important economic factor for the region. The magazine is looking forward to a visit
in 2018 on the occasion of a repetition course (WK=Wiederholungskurs).
McDonnell Douglas F/A‐18 Hornets of Fliegerstaffel 11 left side
Eurocopter AS532UL Cougar Mk (T‐336) from Lufttransportstaffel 6 (Air transport squadron)
based at Alpnach, right top
PC‐12 of the Armasuisse, an interpendet branch of the MoD, operates a special equipped Pilatus
PC‐12 with the civil iregistration of HB‐FOG to calibrate the radars, right bottom