Aalborg Air Base is a military base

Military base

A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. In general, a military base provides accommodations for one or more units, but it may also be used as a...

 for the Danish Air Force . It is located near Aalborg

Aalborg

-Transport:On the north side of the Limfjord is Nørresundby, which is connected to Aalborg by a road bridge Limfjordsbroen, an iron railway bridge Jernbanebroen over Limfjorden, as well as a motorway tunnel running under the Limfjord Limfjordstunnelen....

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

.
Aalborg Air Base shares its runway system as well as some services (Air Traffic Control etc) with Aalborg Lufthavn

Aalborg Airport

Aalborg Airport is a dual-use airport located in Nørresundby, Denmark, which is northwest of Aalborg. Aalborg Airport is the third largest airport in Denmark with approximately 1.4 million travellers per year.-Duty Free Shopping:...

.

Residing Royal Danish Air Force units are:

• 721 Squadron
  Eskadrille 721
  Eskadrille 721 of the Royal Danish Air Force is the sole squadron in 'Air Transport Wing Aalborg' of the Danish Defence. It provides tactical transport for all parts of the Danish state.-History:...
  
   which is an air transport squadron equipped with Lockheed C-130J-30 Hercules
  C-130 Hercules
  The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport...
  
   and CL-604 Challenger
  Bombardier Challenger 600
  The Bombardier Challenger 600 series is a family of business jets designed by Bill Lear and produced first by Canadair until that company was bought by Bombardier Aerospace in 1986.-Development:...
  
   aircraft

It is also the base for Denmark's elite Jægerkorpset

Jægerkorpset

The Jaeger Corps is the special forces unit of the Royal Danish Army stationed at Aalborg Air Base.-Insignia and status :Jægerkorpset wears the maroon beret with a brass emblem depicting a hunter's bugle on a black felt liner. The beret is issued after completion of an 16 week selection...

special forces unit.
Until their decommissioning on January 10, 2006, Aalborg Air Base was also home to:

• 723 Squadron
• 726 Squadron

These two squadrons were reconnaissance and fighter bomber squadrons equipped with Lockheed F-16MLU Fighting Falcon

F-16 Fighting Falcon

The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force . Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,400 aircraft have been built since...

 aircraft.
The aircraft from there squadron were transferred to Skrydstrup Air Base instead.

History

When Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 invaded Denmark April 9, 1940 the German Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....

 (Air Force) launched one of the first airborne operations in history, in which paratrooper

Paratrooper

Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...

s captured the airport. Aalborg Lufthavn was considered a crucial element in the ferrying of troops and equipments from Germany to Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 as it acted as a refuelling base for Luftwaffe transport planes, especially Junkers Ju 52/3m, during the campaign.

A well known air battle took place over the airport August 13, 1940 when a squadron of Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 Bristol Blenheim

Bristol Blenheim

The Bristol Blenheim was a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company that was used extensively in the early days of the Second World War. It was adapted as an interim long-range and night fighter, pending the availability of the Beaufighter...

 bombers attacked the German aircraft based there. All eleven attacking aircraft were shot down by either German anti-aircraft fire or Messerschmitt Bf 109

Messerschmitt Bf 109

The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...

 fighter aircraft.

The Luftwaffe greatly expanded the airport which they called Fliegerhorst Aalborg West. After the war, an internment camp for Baltic German refugees was set up at the location.
When the Royal Danish Air Force was created in 1950, it took over the Fliegerhorst.