 andÃ¸ya air station (norwegian: andÃ¸ya flystasjon) is situated in the north of norway, in the municipality of andÃ¸y. at andÃ¸ya, the 333 squadron is based with p-3c orions. the squadron is norway's only surveillance squadron and stands as the airborne defence of northern norway. andÃ¸ya air station is designed to handle fighters and should it become necessary, fighter squadrons can be deployed to protect this region. squadron 333 is the only norwegian squadron still in operation after its initial deployment. the civil airport andÃ¸ya airport, andenes and the civilian sounding rocket launch facility andÃ¸ya rocket range is also located on the island. the six orion aircraft primary function is surveillance, mostly in the north and for both military and civilian functions. the planes are also the only that can help ship wrecked far from land. the aircraft also have a lot of cooperation with the norwegian coast guard. ==history== the first idea of building a military airport was launched at a nato meeting in lisbon in 1951. in march 1952 the norwegian minister of defence, nils langhelle announced that the airport was going to be built. there were multiple suggested locations, and the decision fell on the village haugnes. the entire village with 310 residents was expropriated to give enough area for the airport. the community at andÃ¸y only had 2000 residents at the time, and a large growth was expected. the first aircraft landing was on september 17, 1954, douglas dakota. the air station was operational from the fall 1957. the headquarters were located about 13&nbsp;km away at skarsteindalen, as part of natos spread tactic. in 1961 the first squadron, the 333, was moved to the air station, from 
Airports_established_in_1954 Airports_in_Nordland AndA,y Royal_Norwegian_Air_Force_stations