Persan-Beaumont Airport (french: Aérodrome de Persan - Beaumont, ) is a regional airport in the
Val-d'Oise 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
ÃŽle-de-France in northern
France. It is located northeast of
Beaumont-sur-Oise,
of
Persan
Persan () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department, Île-de-France, northern France. Persan–Beaumont station has rail connections to Pontoise, Creil, Sarcelles and Paris.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Val-d'Oise department
The fo ...
, and north of
Paris. The airport supports
general aviation with no commercial airline service scheduled.
History
Beaumont Sur Oise was a pre-
World War II French Air Force
The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...
airfield with a concrete runway (05/23).
The airfield was 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 ...
. It was used by the
Luftwaffe only sparingly, with Luftlandegeschwader 1 (LLG 1), a glider unit being assigned to the airfield between April and May 1943, equipped with
Henschel Hs 126 liaison aircraft;
Dornier Do 17s to pull the units
DFS 230 transport gliders. Later, in November and December 1943, Schlachtgeschwader 4 (SLG 4) operated
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, ...
F/Gs as a ground-attack unit.
[The Luftwaffe, 1933-45](_blank)
/ref>
Beaumont was attacked on several missions by the United States Army Air Forces 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 ...
and IX Bomber Command groups during 1943 and 1944.
The airfield was liberated by Allied ground forces about 3 September 1944 during the Northern France Campaign. Almost immediately, the United States Army Air Forces IX Engineering Command 818th Engineer Aviation Battalion cleared the airport of mines and destroyed Luftwaffe aircraft. Fortunately, little battle damage was sustained, and the airport became a USAAF Ninth Air Force combat airfield, designated as "A-60" about 26 September.
Under American control, the Ninth Air Force assigned the 386th Bombardment Group 386th may refer to:
* 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to United States Air Forces Central
*386th Fighter Squadron or 174th Air Refueling Squadron, unit of the Iowa Air National Guard 185th Air Refueli ...
to the airport which flew B-26 Marauder
The Martin B-26 Marauder is an American twin-engined medium bomber that saw extensive service during World War II. The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska, by the Glenn L. Martin Company.
First used in t ...
medium bombers from the facility between 2 October 1944 and 9 April 1945. The 386th was replaced by the 410th Bombardment Group 41 may refer to:
* 41 (number)
* one of the years 41 BC, AD 41, 1941, 2041
Art and entertainment
* ''41'' (film), a 2007 documentary about Nicholas O'Neill, the youngest victim of the Station nightclub fire
* ''41'', a 2012 film by Glenn Triggs
* ...
, an A-26 Invader
The Douglas A-26 Invader (designated B-26 between 1948 and 1965) is an American twin-engined light bomber and ground attack aircraft. Built by Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II, the Invader also saw service during several major Col ...
group, which operated from the airport until June 1945. The Americans returned full control of the airport to French authorities on 17 July 1945.
Current
After the war, the airport appears to have been torn down, and a new facility constructed about 200m to the southeast. The wartime concrete runway remains in a field complete with many patches of bomb craters, connected to what appears to be the prewar French air base. At least one large hangar is still standing, and numerous support buildings. In addition, old taxiways reduced in width are being used as farm access roads.
Facilities
The airport resides at an elevation of above mean sea level. It has three runways: 10L/28R is paved and measures , 10R/28L is a parallel grass runway measuring , and 05/23 has a grass surface measuring .
See also
* Advanced Landing Ground
Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) were temporary advance airfields constructed by the Allies during World War II during the liberation of Europe. They were built in the UK prior to the invasion and thereafter in northwest Europe from 6 June 19 ...
References
External links
*
*
{{authority control
Airports in ÃŽle-de-France
World War II airfields in France
Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in France