Fayence-Tourrettes Airfield (french: Aérodrome Fayence - Tourrettes) is a small

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

located south of

Fayence Fayence (; oc, Faiença) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 5,735. Fayence is one of a series of "perched villages" overlooking the plain between ...

and Tourrettes, both

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...

of the

Var Var or VAR may refer to: Places * Var (department), a department of France * Var (river), France * Vār, Iran, village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Var, Iran (disambiguation), other places in Iran * Vár, a village in Obreja commune, Ca ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in the

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (; or , ; commonly shortened to PACA; en, Provence-Alps-French Riviera, italic=yes; also branded as Région Sud) is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, the far southeastern on the mainland. Its pref ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

of southeastern

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 ...

History

On 13 June 1940, 12 Italian fighters

FIAT CR.42 The Fiat CR.42 ''Falco'' ("Falcon", plural: ''Falchi'') is a single-seat sesquiplane fighter developed and produced by Italian aircraft manufacturer Fiat Aviazione. It served primarily in the Italian in the 1930s and during the Second World ...

, from 151° ''Gruppo'' of 53° ''Stormo'', of

Regia Aeronautica The Italian Royal Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was abolis ...

, attacked the airfield, destroying several aircraft on the ground.Skulski 2007, p. 20. Nowadays, it is home to a large

gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is al ...

club, the ''Association Aéronautique Provence Côte d'Azur'' (AAPCA) and to one microlight school. Runway 10L has two small tarmac landing strips for the exclusive use of gliders.

References

Bibliography

* De Marchi, Italo. ''Fiat CR.42 Falco'' (in Italian). Modena, Italy: Stem Mucchi, 1994. No ISBN. * Sgarlato, Nico. ''Fiat CR.42'' (in Italian). Parma, Italy: Delta Editrice, 2005. * Skulski, Przemysław. ''Fiat CR.42 Falco''. Redbourn, UK: Mushroom Model Publications, 2007. .

External links

''Association Aéronautique Provence Côte d'Azur'' (AAPCA)
Airports in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Airports established in 1934 1934 establishments in France {{France-airport-stub