Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:
France, departement Nord
This collection of airfields is ©
2010-2012 by RonaldV
(Disclaimer).
Cambrai-Niergnies Added 15 Mar 2011 - mardyck Added 7 Apr 2011
St.Pol-du-Mer Added 7 Apr 2011 - Aubry Added 25 May 2011 - Bailleul Updated 24 Oct 2011
Le Questnoi-Vertain Added 10 Dec 2011 - ... More to come
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50°08'08"N003°15'53"E
runway: 08/26 - 900x..m/3,000x..feet - Asphalt
runway: 08/26 - 900x..m - Grass
runway: 08/26 - 1,600x75m/5000x..feet - concrete (CLOSED)
runway: 17/35 - 2400x75m - concrete (CLOSED)
Air field Cambrai-Niergnies (Aerodrome de Cambrai-Niergnies, also known as ALG A-74, ICAO: LFYG) is an airfield 3 miles southeast of Cambrai, in Nord-Pas de Calais, France
The airfield was built as a civilian airport before World War II, consisting of a terminal, hangar, some support buildings and a grass airfield.
It was seized early by the Germans during the Battle of France, and used as a fighter airfield by Jagdgeschwadere (JG) 3 against the French Army and the British Expeditionary Force.
After the battle was over, the germans did not use the airfield for several years.
In 1943 the Germans began building up the airfield, giving it two 1600meter all-weather concrete runways, oriented 15/33 and 09/26, and a large number of dispersals, hangars and other facilities.
Of course a target of this magnitude could not be ignored by the USAAF who sent the Ninth Air Force, which attacked the airfield on 1st and 2d December 1943 with B-26 Marauder medium bombers (322d, 387th Bombardment Groups), servery damaging the facility.
The damage was so extensive the Germans did not use the airfield again.
By early September the US 9th Army captured the base, and they ordered the IX Engineer Command 862d Engineer Aviation Battalion to make the airfield fit for air operations.
Within two days they had the bomb craters filled, laid PSP on the 15/33 runway, and patched up the 08/26 runway with asphalt.
A tent city was set up to support the facility, an access road was built, electricity made available and a dump for fuel, ammunition, supplies and drinkable water set up.
Designated ALG 'A-74 Cambrai/Niergnies Airfield' it was ready for operations on 12 September 1944.
The first two weeks it was used by P-47s of the 48th Fighter Group, from October until 2 May 1945 it was home to B-26 medium bombers of the 394th Bomb Group (Ninth Air Force).
The airfield was handed over to the French Air Ministry on 30 June 1945.
For years the French left the base as it was.
Many unexploded munitions and wrecks of Allied and German aircraft littered the airfield and most of the buildings were in ruins.
Lacking the money to restore the airfield, the Air Ministry leased the entire land to local farmers, after first removing the dangerous munitions.
By 1950 the airfield was offered to the USAF as part of their NATO commitment to establlish a modern airbase to counter the threat of the Cold War and the Soviet Union.
It was decided to build up the air base as a "bare bones" facility with minimal facilities to dispeerse aircraft in case of war.
From 1953 French demolition and construction companies began to remove German structures and wreckage from the old airbase.
French EOD teams began clearing the remaining unexploded munitions, and a modern all weather NATO jet-capable runway swas laid over one of the former German runways, aligned 15/33.
The other runway was totally refurbished and taxiways and dispersals were built.
One taxiway was built parallel to the main runway at the same length, so it could double as an emergency runway.
When completed the resulting air base had enough room to accommodate up to 4 squadrons of aircraft.
The air base was never used however, apart from an occasional touch and go by NATO (mostly USAF) aircraft.
When the French decided to withdraw from the military branch of NATO in the late 1960s, the base was abandoned.
the largely abandoned Cambrai-Niergnies airfield in 2004
When the NATO facility closed, the French Air Ministry turned the facility over to the local government.
A small part of the large NATO air base has been converted into a civil recreational airport, with about 3000' of the 5000' 08/26 secondary runway being maintained as the airport's runway.
Parallel to that runway a second grass runway has been built for use by gliders.
A small ramp north of the 08/26 runway is connected to the runway by a asphalt taxy track, and support buildings appear to be former NATO buildings, but have been extensively upgraded.
The NATO airbase still exists almost intact, although its condition is deteriorating after having been left 40 years ago.
Joints in the concrete of the runways, taxiways and dispersals are getting filled with vegetation.
From the air however the airfield seems frozen in time.
Current runway of Cambrai-Niergnies in October 2008 (Wikipedia).
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51°01'43"N002°15'21"E
Runway: 09/27 - ...meters/...feet - concrete/grass (CLOSED)
Runway: 15/33 - ...meters/...feet - grass (CLOSED)
Runway: 03/21 - ...meters/...feet - grass (CLOSED)
Air field Mardyck (French: d’aérodrome de Dunkerque-Mardyck, Dutch: Vliegveld Duinkerken-Mardijk, also known as Mardick aerodrome) was an airfield west of Dunkirk, France
The airfield was built in 1936 as a civilian airfield on about 72 hectares of property by the Club Aéronautique de Dunkerque with a hangar and a club house.
Following the declaration of war in 1939 the Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) took control of the airfield.
In 1940 they requisitioned a strip of land wet of the airfield to serve as an aircraft dispersal.
The following units were stationed at the base:
Groupe de Chasse (fighter group) GC I/4 from 10 January until 2 May 1940 and again from 10 May until 21 May with Curtiss H75s.
Groupe Aérien d’Observation (Aerial Observattion Group) n°501 from 10 November 1939 with Mureaux 115 and from 30 March 1940 also Potez63-11.
Groupe de Chasse (fighter group) GC II/6 from 11 April until 9 May 1940with Ms406s.
Units of the Armée de l'Air shared the field between 6 and 18 June with 1 Sqn RAF flying Hurricane I fighting to defend the evacuation of French and English troops trapped in the Dunkirk pocket.
The French aircraft would eventually continue their mission from British soil.
No photos of the airfield while in use have been located
The field was then used by the Luftwaffe until 1941.
They constructed a 600x40m concrete runway and a set of dispersal areas.
Out of fear of the British the field was then made unusable, but it remained occupied until the liberation.
The Germans had the following units at the airfield:.
Stab JG2 from 28 August to 25 September 1940
I. and II./JG 2 from 28 August to 10 September 1940.
II./JG 51 from October to December 1940 and again from 14 February until 7 June 194.
Stab JG51 from 5 February until June 1941.
IV./JG51 from 5 February until late May 1941.
After the war the land was rehabilitated to allow the use for civilian traffic.
A lot of repair work had to be done: filling obstruction trenches and bomb craters and removal of mines.
The airfield was decommissioned in August 1967.
Today it is very hard to find any evidence of the former airfield.
The french website Anciennes-aerodromes.com suspects there should still be signs, but acess is strictly prohibited.
No maps of the airfield could be found
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51°02'37"N002°20'05"E
runway: 400x400m air field
Air field St.Pol-du-Mer (french: Aérodrome de St.Pol-du-Mer, dutch: vliegveld St.Pols or vliegveld Sint-Pols-aan-Zee) was an airfield an airfield in of Dunkirk, France.
The airfield was opened on 28 September 1913, although its history began as early as 1920, when the political and military authorities of Dunkirk (dutch: Duinkerken) recognised the importance of aviation.
The site used for the airfield had been an old abandoned sanatorium in the town of St.Pol-du-Mer and was designed as an extension of the port of Dunkirk.
Various donors sponsored the airfield, amongst others the local phoilantropic (and creator of the old sanatorium) consul-general of Nord George Wancauwenbergue and the society of Dunkirk veterans.
The airfield was shaped as a 400x400m square, and had all the modern facilities and comforts of its time.
It had used 2 or 3 buildings of the old sanatorium connected by a large tent for about 20 aircraft.
During the opening an airshow was held, which attracted some 50,000 spectators.
Various civilian and millitary aircraft flew in the presence of various military and civilian dignitaries.
Henry Terquem, Mayor of Dunkirk and General Can, military governor of the city then perform their first flight.
From the beginning both military and civilian aviators did not have to pay fees for the use of the airfield.
The military got it's first glimpse of monitoring traffic in the English Channel/Pas de Calais, which would become a major interest months later.
No photos have been located
Right from the outbreak of World War I the airfield was of prime importance..
In September a British aircraft with an emergency landed at the base, the first ever under operational circumstances.
In the weeks that followed the French and the British Naval Air Service took poseesion of the airfield.
They would perform two tasks: Protection of Dunkirk from German incursions by attacks and bombing missions on German airfields in Belgium.
The other mission was to attack and bomb German mililtary installations in Belgium.
French units stationed at the base throughout the war were Escadrilles (Squadrons) 3, 6, 15, 16, 26, 33, 35, 36, 65, 73, 84, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 109, 116, 124 (LF) and BLC5 .
It is also worth noting that the airfield was home base to Captain George Guynemer, a fighter pilot with 53 victories, decorated many times for his many actions, and a member of Escadrille des Cigognes.
In September 1915, Captain Guynemer was based at St.Pol-sur-Mer and involved in the fighting in Flanders.
On 11 September he departed the field on a mission that would end tragically above the village of Poelkapelle during a battle with the German pilot Wisseman.
He is remembered with statues in Malo Les Bains, Poelkapelle and St.Pol-du-Mer.
It is not known when the airfield closed.
It was however no longer an active airfield at the outbreak of World War II.
The whole area is unrecognisable now, with the former airfield being in the middle of the port of Dunkirk.
No maps of the airfield could be found
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50°21'52"N003°27'41"E
runway: flying field - 550x350m - grass
Air field Aubry was a German airfield 40 kilometers southeast of Lille and 6 kilometers northwest of Valenciennes in France
The airfield was built during World War I, and consisted of a flying field and 6 canvas tent hangars, 2 on the north side and 4 on the northeast side.
It was located immediately southwest of the Chateau de Malplaquet south of the village Aubry (todays Aubry-du-Hainaut).
Other than its existence on a map made in 1918 not much is known about the airfield.
There are no known remains.
1918 British Field Survey map of the airstrip as found at Mc Master University, Canada (anciens-aerodromes.com).
Aerial photo of the area in 2004, with the airfield and its hangars approximate outlines (Google Earth)
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50°44'40"N002°44'59"E
runway: Flying field - ...x...m - grass
runway: Flying field - ...x...m - grass
runway: Flying field - ...x...m - grass
Air field Bailleul (French: Aerodrome de Bailleul, Dutch: vliegveld Belle) was an airfield complex to the east and northeast of Bailleul (dutch: Belle) northwest of Lille (Dutch: Rijsel) in France.
Bailleul consisted of 3 flying fields next to each other.
Officially the flying fields were three seperate airfields by the names of 'Town Ground Aerodrome', 'East Aerodrome' and 'Asylum Aerodrome', but as they were bordering each other and sharing much of their infrastructure (such as a railway connection and tent camps) they are considered as one for this site.
'Town Ground' was in use since 1915 by 6Sqn Royal Flying Corps, followed by 42 and 53 Sqn and 3Sqn Australian Flying Corps.
It had a large flying field to the east of the town center with severeal hangars and wooden barracks to house staff and pilots.
The squadrons took part in the two battles of Ypres (Dutch: Ieperen) and operated in the surrouding area during fighter, attack and reconnaissance missions.
Several of its pilots are still buried at the local cemetary acorss the road from the former airfield.
A flight of Australian aircraft of (No 69 Squadron AFC (later No 3 Squadron)) at the Bailleul Airfield, France used for artillery observation and the registration of gun fire. (Australian War Memorial).
3 Sqn AFC RE8s at Bailleul, 1917. (3Squadron.org.au).
The second aerodrome ('East') was built to the northeast of the town, east of the local asylum for the insane.
Its location led to much protest from the director of the asylum, who feared his patients would become expopsed to airplane noise, and especially to German bombings.
His fears were not unfounded, because in 1915 a 380 (!) mm shell aimed at the airfields led to the death of 4 english nurses, while injuring others and causing damage to the buildings.
A German air raid by several aircraft in 1916 also struck the airfields, scaring the residents.
The airfield was intended for use by the Roayl Naval Air Service.
It had a very rudimentary infrastructure, some light sheds and canvas hangars along the road for maintenance and accomodation.
Across the road a tent camp, truck parking and a loading dock for trains (with a seperate track from the local station) were located.
The last field ('Asylum') was built as early as November 1914, when the first British troops arrived in town.
In spite of heavy protests from the asylum management they set up camp immediately north of the complex.
The forced 'cohabitation' did have its advantages to the asylum, as it permitted loads of coal for heating and soap for the showers.
The troops benefitted too, because their laundry was dome at the asylum for a reasonable sum.
The finance was a welcome bonus for the asylum during the war years, enabling it to continue caring for its patients.
The entire complex existed until 1918.
In April 1918, the airfields were destroyed by a German offensive that also destroyed 98% of the town of Bailleul.
Since the 1918 attack the area has changed very much and nothing remains of the former airfields.
The town of Bailleul before the German offensive of April 1918 (GoogleEarthHacks.com).
The town of Bailleul after the German offensive of April 1918 (GoogleEarthHacks.com).
KMZ files for both photos in Google Earth can be loaded from the links supplied.
Overview of Bailleul and its 3 airstrips
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50°13'05"N003°32'28"E
runway: flying field - grass
Air field Le Quesnoi-Vertain (also known as Escarmain/Vertain) was an airfield 175 kilometers north-norteast of Paris in France
The airfield was built from December 1937 on 99 hectares of land.
Just before the outbreak of World War II the airfield was expanded with another 16 hectares.
The extra land was used to set up protective trenches, machine gun positions and aircraft shelters.
Armee de l'Air (French Air Force) units active at the field.
GAO 505 (Air Observation Group) from 8 Oct 1939 until 16 May 1940, flying Potez 61.
GAO II/551 and GAO IV/551 with Potez 63.
GAO I/506 with Potez 63.
GC II/6 (Groupe the Chasse/Fighter Group) from 15-17May 1940 with MS406.
At the declaration of war the first aircraft to use the airfield were Potez 39.
They were soon followed by more modern Potez63 light bombers and Morane Saulnier MS406 fighters.
By mid-April the airfield boasted 36 MS406 fighters on strength.
Between 12:00 and 12:30 on 16 may 1940 the French defenses were surprised by a lot of Do-17Z buzzing the airfield.
Dropping their bombs they destroyed many fighters or made them unusuable by fire or bulletholes.
Polish Warrant Officer Jozef Zak was the single casualty of the air raid.
Witnesses reported about 26 MS406 and Potez63 being destroyed at the field before the Germans captured the air base.
Their wreckage remained on the ground until removed by the occupants in September 1940.
The terrain was use by I./JG77 of the Luftwaffe between 20 and 22 May as a field campaign airfield.
By stationing the unit close to the front they were able to keep supporting the advancing troops during the Westfeldzug (campaign in the West).
The airfield was quickly rebuilt with hardening of tracks and the construction of splitterboxes with sandbags.
A branch of a nerby railway was built to bring supplies, fuel and ammuniton.
In June 1940 II/KG76 brought Do-17Z medium bombers to the field.
After the summer the activities at the airfiedl were few, with only an occasional Ju-52/3m visiting the field until 1943.
In March 1944 the airfield was rendered unusable by trenched dug across the airfield by forced labour from neighbouring towns.
Later in 1944 two P-38s strafed its water tower.
This attack deprived water from the neighbouring communities, who also made use of it.
A few months after the airfield was liberated a B-17 made an emergency belly landing at the airfield.
The wreckage remained on the site for several weeks.
In February 1946 the airfield was declared closed to public air traffic because of the poor condition of the field.
The lands were subsequently returned to their pre-war owners and recultivated.
Only a few concrete taxi tracks remain, including two 400m stretches that resemble crossed runways.
The airfield as it looked fromthe air in 2003 (Google Earth)
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information about airfields (listed and unlisted) in France,
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