Querqueville Airfield is a former airfield north-northwest of

Querqueville Querqueville () is a former commune in the Manche department in north-western France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin.Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

region of

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

The airfield was already in use before World War II and served as a training and research airfield for the Aeronavale. It was captured by the Germans after 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 German invasion of France during the Second Wor ...

in May 1940, and was taken over by the Luftwaffe and became a German Fliegerhorst. Fliegerhorst Querqueville was used by

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 flyin ...

(JG 2) "Richthofen" 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 ...

. It operated g

Bf 109E Due to the Messerschmitt Bf 109's versatility and time in service with the German and foreign air forces, numerous variants were produced in Germany to serve for over eight years with the Luftwaffe. Additional variants were produced abroad tot ...

s over the South Coast of

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 ...

and the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...

. Between 1940 and 1944 it was attacked several times by both the RAF and USAAF. Several French

Potez 631 The Potez 630 and its derivatives were a family of twin-engined, multirole aircraft developed for the French Air Force in the late 1930s. The design was a contemporary of the British Bristol Blenheim (which was larger and designed purely as a ...

twin-engined fighters were captured by the Germans at the airfield, and were used for some time as decoys with German crosses painted on them. After they were destroyed by Allied aircraft, the Germans simply pushed them onto the beach. After Cherbourg fell to US forces following a lengthy battle in June 1944, US IX Engineering Command, 830th Engineer Aviation Battalion began rebuilding the airfield. Assisted by 826 EAB they found and cleared 4500 landmines at the airfield. As the mines could not be detected by their mine detectors, this meant an extraordinary effort, for which several of the units' men were awarded Bronze Stars. The 830th EAB then proceeded to convert Querqueville into a transport airfield, designated ALG A-23. They constructed a large platform and managed to squeeze in a runway. A hangar was repaired, only to be destroyed again by a B-17 in distress, and repaired a second time. Immediately after the war it was used by both the RAF and USAAF 27th Air Transport Group (ATC) as the location where captured German military aircraft were brought to in preparation to the transport to the UK and USA as part of "

Operation Lusty Operation LUSTY (LUftwaffe Secret TechnologY) was the United States Army Air Forces' effort to capture and evaluate German aeronautical technology during and after World War II. Overview During World War II, the U.S. Army Air Forces Intelligence ...

". The airfield closed on 8 August 1945. It was handed over to the Aeronavale, who used it until 1948. It was then put on a Care and Maintenance status. It was finally struck off in 1966. A naval academy and a new suburb have been built over the site.

References

* 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.
Querqueville (A-23)

External links

{{authority control World War II airfields in France Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in France