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- Orly Air Base was a United States Air Force Facility during the early part of the Cold War, located at Aéroport de Paris-Orly, 15 kilometres (9 mi) south of Paris, France. The American Air Base was located on the north side of the airport, in an area east of the current-day Val-de-Marne/Essonne. The facility was first developed as a military airfield by the Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) during World War I. With the end of the war, in 1920 it was eventually developed into a civil airport. After the 1940 Battle of France, the occupying German Luftwaffe seized the facility and used it as a military airfield. In 1944, the Germans were driven out and it subsequently became an Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) designated A-47 for the United States Army Air Forces Ninth Air Force. Rebuilt after the war as a joint civil/military airfield, the primary use of the base was to support Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) at Rocquencourt. Secondary functions were as a personnel processing center for inbound and outbound personnel assigned to France, and as a limited operational transport base. In 1967 the American military facilities were closed as a result of France's withdrawal from NATO's integrated military command. (en)
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