Nancy–Essey Airport is a regional airport in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, located about east of
Nancy (in the
Meurthe-et-Moselle
Meurthe-et-Moselle () is a department in the Grand Est region of France, named after the rivers Meurthe and Moselle. It had a population of 733,760 in 2019.[Grand Est
Grand Est (; gsw-FR, Grossa Oschta; Moselle Franconian/ lb, Grouss Osten;
Rhine Franconian: ''Groß Oschte''; german: Großer Osten ; en, "Great East") is an administrative region in Northeastern France. It superseded three former administra ...]
region) and about east of
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
.
It used to be the main airport for Nancy, however commercial airline traffic was moved to the new
Metz-Nancy-Lorraine Airport in 1991. The airfield is open to the domestic and international non-scheduled commercial, private aircraft, for IFR and VFR, supporting
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 ...
and charter aircraft operations.
History
Before 1926 the site was used as a military airfield. However, the airfield was too small, and without possibility of extension and being judged difficult to use, the airfield at the site was closed. In 1936, the current airport was built as a grass airfield for the
French Air Force, and was used as a flight school.
In addition to the military use before World War II, because of the proximity of Paris, the airport was used in the mid-1930s by the postal company Blue Air, which operated a service between Paris-Le Bourget – Nancy – Strasbourg, but this was short lived.
After the
Battle of France in 1940, the airfield was seized by the German
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 ...
, and was used as a transport/combat glider airfield during 1943 and 1944. It was attacked on several occasions by Allied bombers. American units began to move into the Nancy area in late September 1944, and the airfield was liberated in early October. Relatively undamaged, some
Pierced Steel Planking
Marston Mat, more properly called pierced (or perforated) steel planking (PSP), is standardized, perforated steel matting material developed by the United States at the Waterways Experiment Station shortly before World War II, primarily for the ...
was laid down to patch the main runway, and the airfield was declared operationally usable by the combat engineers on 15 October 1944. It was designated as
Advanced Landing Ground "Y-42".
The airport was used by the Americans as a light aircraft liaison airfield to support the numerous command and control organizations in the Nancy area until the end of the war, with the last unit returning to the United States in September 1945. It was then returned to local French authorities.
Reconstructed, the airport was used by the
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...
as a light aviation airfield from the mid-1950s until the 1990s. Commercial use of the airport also resumed in the 1950s The airport was used by commercial airlines until 1991 including Air Vosges, Rousseau Aviation, Air Alsace and TAT which later became Air Liberté. In the early 1980s passenger use exceeded 50,000 per passengers per year.
The site hosts a large school of pilot training, and is used primarily for pleasure flights and business charters. It also can be used as an emergency landing site for commercial aircraft.
Statistics
References
*
French Wikipedia article
External links
*
{{authority control
Airports in Grand Est
World War II airfields in France
Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in France
Meurthe-et-Moselle
Airports established in 1936