Ørland Main Air Station (Norwegian: Ørland hovedflystasjon) is situated at the mouth of the Trondheimsfjorden in the municipality of Ørland in Trøndelag county in the center of Norway. Ørland is operated by the Royal Norwegian Air Force and is an important air base not only for Norway, but also for NATO. The air station is the base of F-35A Lightning II and F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft, Westland Sea King search and rescue helicopters and a location for E-3A Sentry AWACS. It is also the host of many NATO exercises. In addition, Danish Air Transport operates a scheduled route with an ATR 42 (Most commonly an ATR 42-320/500) 36-48 seater aircraft to Oslo Airport, Gardermoen operating two daily rotations, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon (Typical rush hours). Operations Air Wing 138 is stationed at the main air station. Under it are most operations at the air station, including Squadron 338, the Luftvernartilleribataljon (GBAD unit), the Base-Set I (mobile QRF unit), but not 330 Squadron. The Norwegian F-16 IRF (Immediate Reaction Force) is stationed here together with support administration. The squadron can act independently without support from the host nation. The Squadron 338 has half the Royal Norwegian Air Force' 57 F-16 aircraft and has 22 pilots. Ørland is the only air station on the Scandinavian Peninsula that has ground handling equipment for the E-3A Sentry AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System). It is considered a forward operations location (FOL), but not a base for these aircraft. There is also a detachment of four Westland Sea King search and rescue helicopters from the 330 Squadron at Sola Air Station to assist any emergency at sea or in other unreachable places. History World War II Ørland Main Air Station was built by the prisoners of war (mostly Serbs, Russians and Poles) exploited by the occupation forces in 1941 during the German occupation. The Germans wanted an airfield so that they could interdict the Allied convoys to Murmansk. At first, German Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condors were stationed here. In June 1942, a squadron of Junkers Ju 87 Stukas rebased here, later a squadron of Messerschmitt Bf 109s and then a squadron of Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters. The Germans decided to expand the airfield and built a second runway in 1944. This was later made the main runway. The Germans then made several taxiways and started planning a third