Vernouillet Airport
Encyclopedia
Vernouillet Airport is a regional airport in France
. It supports general aviation
with no commercial airline service scheduled.
, Dreux was used as a Luftwaffe
military airfield during the occupation. Known units assigned (all from Luftlotte 3, Fliegerkorps IV):
KG 55 took part in the Battle of Britain
and subsequent night bombing raids on England
. KG 51 was a fighter/bomber unit, and along with SKG 10 and JG 3, attacked Eighth Air Force
daylight heavy bomber raids over Occupied Europe and Germany.
Largely due to its use as a base for Fw-190 interceptors, Dreux was attacked by USAAF Ninth Air Force
B-26 Marauder
medium bombers and P-47 Thunderbolt
s mostly with 500-pound General-Purpose bombs; unguided rockets and .50 caliber machine gun sweeps when Eighth Air Force
heavy bombers (B-17s, B-24s) were within interception range of the Luftwaffe aircraft assigned to the base. The attacks were timed to have the maximum effect possible to keep the interceptors pinned down on the ground and be unable to attack the heavy bombers. Also the P-51 Mustang
fighter-escort groups of Eighth Air Force
would drop down on their return back to England and attack the base with a fighter sweep and attack any target of opportunity to be found at the airfield.
combat airfield, designated as "A-41" about 26 August, just a few days after its capture from German forces.
Under American control, the airport hosted numerous combat units.
After the war, the airport was returned to French civil control.
in the late 1940s, negotiations began in November 1950 between NATO and the United States to establish air bases and station combat wings in France to meet European defense needs. During the negotiations for selection sites, the airport at Dreux was proposed by the United States for expansion into a modern NATO air base. However, the French government rejected the airfield at Dreux, citing the expansion of Orly Airport
near Paris
presenting a conflict with airspace traffic, and plans were in the works to expand Vernouillet into a commercial site. A completely new NATO airfield was eventually built near the village of Dampierre
, about 10 miles to the west, to accommodate the United States Air Force
as a tactical airlift base. That would become Dreux-Louvilliers Air Base (1955–1967).
The runways of the prewar airport and wartime airfield can still be seen in aerial photography. They can be seen at 48°42′13"N 001°21′53"E.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. It supports general aviation
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
with no commercial airline service scheduled.
History
Dreux airport was built in the 1920s as a grass airfield. In the 1930s it was upgraded to include two concrete runways, a primary 02/20 at 5500' and a secondary 12/30 at 4400'. In addition, a control tower, terminal and a hangar provided services to passengers and aircraft.German use during World War II
Seized by the Germans in June 1940 during the Battle of FranceBattle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
, Dreux was used as a 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....
military airfield during the occupation. Known units assigned (all from Luftlotte 3, Fliegerkorps IV):
- Kampfgeschwader 55 (KG 55) 1 August 1940-14 April 1941 Heinkel He 111Heinkel He 111The Heinkel He 111 was a German aircraft designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter in the early 1930s in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Often described as a "Wolf in sheep's clothing", it masqueraded as a transport aircraft, but its purpose was to provide the Luftwaffe with a fast medium...
P/H (Fuselage Code: G1+) - Kampfgeschwader 51 (KG 51) 25 April-23 May 1944 Messerschmitt Me 410Messerschmitt Me 410The Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse was a German heavy fighter and Schnellbomber used by Luftwaffe during World War II. Though essentially a straightforward modification of the Me 210, it was designated the Me 410 to avoid association with its notoriously flawed predecessor.-Design and...
A (Fuselage Code: 9K+)
- Schnellkampfgeschwader 10 (SKG 10) 6–15 June 1944 Focke-Wulf Fw 190Focke-Wulf Fw 190The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger was a German Second World War single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s. Powered by a radial engine, the 190 had ample power and was able to lift larger loads than its well-known counterpart, the Messerschmitt Bf 109...
A - Jagdgeschwader 3 (JG 3) 8–13 June 1944 Focke-Wulf Fw 190Focke-Wulf Fw 190The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger was a German Second World War single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s. Powered by a radial engine, the 190 had ample power and was able to lift larger loads than its well-known counterpart, the Messerschmitt Bf 109...
A; 12 July-August 1944 Messerschmitt Bf 109Messerschmitt Bf 109The 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...
G
KG 55 took part in the Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
and subsequent night bombing raids on England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. KG 51 was a fighter/bomber unit, and along with SKG 10 and JG 3, attacked Eighth Air Force
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....
daylight heavy bomber raids over Occupied Europe and Germany.
Largely due to its use as a base for Fw-190 interceptors, Dreux was attacked by USAAF Ninth Air Force
Ninth Air Force
The Ninth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command . It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina....
B-26 Marauder
B-26 Marauder
The Martin B-26 Marauder was a World War II twin-engine medium bomber built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in the Pacific Theater in early 1942, it was also used in the Mediterranean Theater and in Western Europe....
medium bombers and P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47 Thunderbolt
Republic Aviation's P-47 Thunderbolt, also known as the "Jug", was the largest, heaviest, and most expensive fighter aircraft in history to be powered by a single reciprocating engine. It was heavily armed with eight .50-caliber machine guns, four per wing. When fully loaded, the P-47 weighed up to...
s mostly with 500-pound General-Purpose bombs; unguided rockets and .50 caliber machine gun sweeps when Eighth Air Force
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....
heavy bombers (B-17s, B-24s) were within interception range of the Luftwaffe aircraft assigned to the base. The attacks were timed to have the maximum effect possible to keep the interceptors pinned down on the ground and be unable to attack the heavy bombers. Also the P-51 Mustang
P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II, the Korean War and in several other conflicts...
fighter-escort groups of Eighth Air Force
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....
would drop down on their return back to England and attack the base with a fighter sweep and attack any target of opportunity to be found at the airfield.
American use
It was liberated by Allied ground forces about 21 August 1944 during the Northern France Campaign. Almost immediately, the USAAF IX Engineering Command 840th Engineer Aviation Battalions began clearing the airport of mines and destroyed Luftwaffe aircraft, and repairing operational facilities for use by American aircraft. Pierced Steel Planking was laid down over some filled in bomb craters on the main runway and it became fully operational for combat aircraft. Dreux Airport became a USAAF Ninth Air ForceNinth Air Force
The Ninth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command . It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina....
combat airfield, designated as "A-41" about 26 August, just a few days after its capture from German forces.
Under American control, the airport hosted numerous combat units.
- 366th Fighter Group, flew P-47 ThunderboltP-47 ThunderboltRepublic Aviation's P-47 Thunderbolt, also known as the "Jug", was the largest, heaviest, and most expensive fighter aircraft in history to be powered by a single reciprocating engine. It was heavily armed with eight .50-caliber machine guns, four per wing. When fully loaded, the P-47 weighed up to...
s from 24 August-8 September 1944 - 397th Bombardment Group, flew B-26 MarauderB-26 MarauderThe Martin B-26 Marauder was a World War II twin-engine medium bomber built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in the Pacific Theater in early 1942, it was also used in the Mediterranean Theater and in Western Europe....
s from 11 September-6 October 1944 - 441st Troop Carrier Group441st Troop Carrier GroupThe 441st Troop Carrier Group is an inactive United States Air Force Reserve organization. Its last assignment was to the 441st Troop Carrier Wing, stationed at Chicago-Orchard Airport, Illinois, on 14 March 1951....
, flew C-47 SkytrainC-47 SkytrainThe Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.-Design and...
s 3 November 1944-12 August 1945. The C-47s pulled gliders in the airborne assault across the Rhine (Operation VarsityOperation VarsityOperation Varsity was a successful joint American–British airborne operation that took place toward the end of World War II...
).
After the war, the airport was returned to French civil control.
Cold War
With the outbreak of the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
in the late 1940s, negotiations began in November 1950 between NATO and the United States to establish air bases and station combat wings in France to meet European defense needs. During the negotiations for selection sites, the airport at Dreux was proposed by the United States for expansion into a modern NATO air base. However, the French government rejected the airfield at Dreux, citing the expansion of Orly Airport
Orly Airport
Paris-Orly Airport is an airport located partially in Orly and partially in Villeneuve-le-Roi, south of Paris, France. It has flights to cities in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean, North America and Southeast Asia. Prior to the construction of Charles de Gaulle Airport, Orly was...
near Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
presenting a conflict with airspace traffic, and plans were in the works to expand Vernouillet into a commercial site. A completely new NATO airfield was eventually built near the village of Dampierre
Dampierre
Dampierre is the name of several communes in France:*Dampierre, Aube, in the Aube département*Dampierre, Calvados, in the Calvados département*Dampierre, Haute-Marne, in the Haute-Marne département*Dampierre, Jura, in the Jura département...
, about 10 miles to the west, to accommodate the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
as a tactical airlift base. That would become Dreux-Louvilliers Air Base (1955–1967).
Current
As beforementoned, with the expansion of Orly Airport, air traffic congestion became a severe problem and it was decided to close Dreux airport. The airport was torn down and its runways and other concreted areas removed. However, a grass airstrip was built to accommodate light general aviation for the Dreux area, the airport which exists today.The runways of the prewar airport and wartime airfield can still be seen in aerial photography. They can be seen at 48°42′13"N 001°21′53"E.
See also
- Advanced Landing Ground