Meiringen Air Base (Unterbach Military Airfield)

Meiringen Air Base, also designated as Unterbach Military Airfield, is a Swiss Air Force installation located in the Aar river valley within the canton of Bern. Situated near Unterbach and Meiringen, the facility is bordered by the Brünig railway line and the Aar river. Operations at the airfield began on 1 December 1941.

The base is one of three primary fighter airfields for the Swiss Air Force. It hosts two fighter squadrons: militia Fliegerstaffel 8 "Destructors," which operates Northrop F-5E Tiger II aircraft, and the professional Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11, which operates F/A-18 Hornets. Fliegerstaffel 8 moved to the base from Buochs Airport in 2004, and Fliegerstaffel 11 relocated from Dübendorf Air Base in 2007.

Infrastructure at Meiringen includes aircraft caverns constructed within the valley walls, connected to the airfield by taxiways. These caverns are used for daily flight operations. Following World War II, the base established its first aircraft cavern, followed by the construction of an ammunition storage cavern in the 1970s. The primary aircraft cavern was modified for F/A-18 Hornet operations with a tunnel system that allows simultaneous entry and exit. This infrastructure permits aircraft maneuvering inside the cavern without the use of cranes. The runway is equipped with retractable arresting gear at both ends for F/A-18 operations and F-5 emergency recovery.