Vannes Airport (aéroport de Vannes-Golfe du Morbihan) is a regional airport in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It supports

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

History

Vannes airport was a civil airport built prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

German use during World War II

Seized by the Germans in June 1940 during the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...

, Meucon airport was used as a

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

military airfield during the occupation. Known units assigned (all from Luftflotte 3, Fliegerkorps IV): The Luftwaffe, 1933-45
/ref> *

Kampfgruppe 100 ''Kampfgruppe'' 100 (KGr 100) was a specialist unit of the Luftwaffe during the early stages of World War II. It is best known as the first unit to use the "pathfinder" concept, with its aircraft being equipped with the latest radio navigation ai ...

(KGr 100) 9 August 1940 – 17 June 1941

Heinkel He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". Due to restrictions placed on Germany after th ...

H (Fuselage Code 6N+) *

Jagdgeschwader 53 ''Jagdgeschwader'' 53 (JG 53) was a Luftwaffe fighter-wing of World War II. It operated in Western Europe and in the Mediterranean. ''Jagdgeschwader'' 53 - or as it was better known, the "Pik As" ''(Ace of Spades)'' Geschwader - was one of the ...

(JG 53) 8 June-13 August 1941

Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...

E-1 *

Jagdgeschwader 51 ''Jagdgeschwader'' 51 (JG 51) was a German fighter wing during World War II. JG 51's pilots won more awards than any other fighter wing of the Luftwaffe, and operated in all major theatres of war. Its members included Anton Hafner, Heinz Bär, ...

(JG 51) Oct 1941-January 1942

E-1 *

Jagdgeschwader 2 Jagdgeschwader 2 (JG 2) "Richthofen" was a German fighter wing during World War II. JG 2 operated the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 single-seat, single-engine interceptor aircraft. Named after the famed World War I flying ...

(JG 2) 22 November 1942-October 1943

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' (" Shrike") is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, ...

A KGr 100 took part in operations over

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

during the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

(10 July–31 October 1940). JG 53, JG 51 and JG 2 were interceptor units against Allied bomber operations over occupied Europe. Vannes was attacked on several missions by

United States Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Force ...

bombers during 1943.

Allied use

The airport was liberated by Allied ground forces about 10 August 1944 during the Northern France Campaign. Almost immediately, the USAAF IX Engineering Command 850th Engineer Aviation Battalion cleared the airport of mines and destroyed Luftwaffe aircraft. Runway bomb craters were filled with gravel or various types of debris and covered by

Tarmac Tarmac may refer to: Engineered surfaces * Tarmacadam, a mainly historical tar-based material for macadamising road surfaces, patented in 1902 * Asphalt concrete, a macadamising material using asphalt instead of tar which has largely superseded ta ...

. Subsequently, Vannes/Meucon Airport became a USAAF

Ninth Air Force The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint De ...

combat airfield, designated as "A-33" about 29 August.Johnson, David C. (1988), U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO), D-Day to V-E Day; Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama. As the airport was in the rear area when repaired and opened, the Americans used it as a defensive field, stationing the

425th Night Fighter Squadron 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

, flying

P-61 Black Widow The Northrop P-61 Black Widow is a twin-engine United States Army Air Forces fighter aircraft of World War II. It was the first operational U.S. warplane designed as a night fighter, and the first aircraft designed specifically as a night fight ...

s from 18 August though 11 September 1944 flying night air defense missions. Once the Luftwaffe threat was diminished in the area, the night fighters were moved east and it became a resupply and evacuation airfield for casualties to be treated, prior to being moved to England or the United States.Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. .

Current

The airport was returned to French civil control after the war ended on 20 June 1945. The heavily damaged airport required much reconstruction, and the main runway was refurbished and repaved with asphalt. Today it remains a regional civil airport. The former secondary (13/31) runway is now a concrete parking apron and still shows some asphalt patches applied over wartime bomb craters left by the Eighth Air Force. A grass runway (08/26) is of postwar vintage.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

References

External links

Official website
in French * {{authority control Airports in Brittany World War II airfields in France Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in France Buildings and structures in Morbihan Airports established in 1926