Merville – Calonne Airport is a regional

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

in France. It is located south of Merville, in northern France. The airport 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 ...

with no commercial airline service scheduled.

History

The airport was originally built by Nazi Germany after the occupation of France in 1940 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 ...

'' base (Fliegerhorst Merville), as part of the defences of the Pas de Calais area. After the area was liberated in 1944 it was converted by

United States Army Air Forces 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 ...

engineers into an allied airfield. The airport was used by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

as Advanced Landing Ground B-53 Merville. The airfield has numerous wartime relics, including many bunkers.

Facilities

The airport has

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

services and two runways oriented north-south (04/22): * A paved runway of * A grass runway. There is a small () terminal building and a restaurant.

Statistics

References

* French Wikipedia article * 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.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Merville - Calonne Airport Airports in Hauts-de-France Nord (French department)