Vitry-en-Artois Airfield is a regional airfield in
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 ...
, located northeast of
Vitry-en-Artois
Vitry-en-Artois (, literally ''Vitry in Artois''; pcd, Vitry-in-Artoé or ''Vitry-la-Gueule'') is a commune and in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.
Geography
Vitry-en-Artois is situated some northeast of Arr ...
; north-northeast of
Paris
Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. It 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.
It was built prior to
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. 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 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 ...
military airfield during the occupation. Recaptured by the Allies in late 1944, it was used as an Allied military airfield until the end of the war.
History
Error : Confusion between Vitry-en-Artois (B-50, northern France) and Vitry-le-François (A-67, Champagne region).
German use during World War II
A small grass airfield prior to World War II, it was seized by the Germans in late May 1940. After its capture, Vitry-En-Artois was used by the Luftwaffe as a combat airfield 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 ...
. As part of the
Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg ( , ; from 'lightning' + 'war') is a word used to describe a surprise attack using a rapid, overwhelming force concentration that may consist of armored and motorized or mechanized infantry formations, together with close air su ...
, the Germans assigned the following units to the airfield during the battle, carrying out air attacks on the defending French and British Expeditionary Force:
[ The Luftwaffe, 1933-45](_blank)
/ref>
* Jagdgeschwader 54 (JS 54) 28 May-6 June 1940 Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...
E
* Jagdgeschwader 51 (JS 51) 1–9 June 1940 Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...
E
* Lehrgeschwader 1 (LG 1) 14–25 June 1940 Junkers Ju 88
The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II ''Luftwaffe'' twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called ''Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") that would be too fast ...
A
After the Second Armistice at Compiègne
The Armistice of 22 June 1940 was signed at 18:36 near Compiègne, France, by officials of Nazi Germany and the Third French Republic. It did not come into effect until after midnight on 25 June.
Signatories for Germany included Wilhelm Keitel, ...
on 22 June, the Luftwaffe moved Kampfgeschwader 53 (KG 53) to the airfield on 12 July. KG 53 was a Heinkel He 111
The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". Due to restrictions placed on Germany after th ...
medium bomber unit that participated in the ensuing 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 ...
, remaining assigned to Vitry until 18 June 1941.
Later in 1941, the Germans improved the facility into a permanent Luftwaffe airfield by expanding the support area with numerous maintenance shops, hangars, and laying down two 1500m concrete all-weather runways, aligned 03/21 and 09/27 (A possible third runway, aligned 13/31 is visible in aerial photography, only part of the 13 (northwest) end still remains). Numerous taxiways and dispersal aircraft parking areas were also constructed. As Vitry is located in the Pas-de-Calais
Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...
, it was believed by the Germans that when the Americans and British tried to land in France to open a Second Front, the airfield would have a key role in the defence of France.
In 1943, Vitry-En-Artois became a day interceptor airfield which housed fighters to attack the USAAF 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 ...
heavy bomber fleets attacking targets in Occupied Europe and Germany. Known units assigned (all from Luftflotte 3, Fliegerkorps IV):
* Jagdgeschwader 2 (JS 2) August–December 1943 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, ...
A
* Kampfgeschwader 2 (KG 2) 22 January-6 February 1944 Messerschmitt Me 410
The Messerschmitt Me 410 ''Hornisse'' (Hornet) is a German heavy fighter and ''Schnellbomber'' used by the ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. Though an incremental improvement of the Me 210, it had a new wing plan, longer fuselage and engin ...
A/U
* Jagdgeschwader 26 (JS 26) 21–29 August 1944 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, ...
A
Largely due to its use as a base for interceptors, and also as part of Operation Quicksilver, which was designed to deceive the Germans about where the invasion of France would take place, Vitry-En-Artois was attacked several times by Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
heavy bomber groups in 1943 and 1944.
Allied use
Vitry-En-Artois was cleared of German forces in late August 1944 by elements of the First Canadian Army
The First Canadian Army (french: 1reArmée canadienne) was a field army and a formation of the Canadian Army in World War II in which most Canadian elements serving in North-West Europe were assigned. It served on the Western Front from July 1944 ...
. Before withdrawing, what was not destroyed at the airfield by Allied bombing, hangars, buildings, electrical generators, water treatment and other facilities were blown up by German combat engineers. The IX Engineer Comman
850th Engineer Aviation Battalion
moved in about 7 September and attempted to perform a rehabilitation of the base so it could be used by Allied aircraft. However the destruction of the airfield was so complete that little could be salvaged, and the engineers laid down a 5000' 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 ...
(PSP) temporary runway over one of the destroyed German concrete runways aligned roughly east–west (09/27). Once declared operational on 15 September, the airfield was designated as 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 ...
"B-50 Vitry Airfield".
Once the PSP runway was laid down, tents were used for billeting and also for support facilities; a dump for supplies, ammunition, and gasoline drums was built along with a drinkable water well being drilled and a minimal electrical grid for communications and station lighting to replace the destroyed infrastructure of the Luftwaffe base.[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.]
Once operational, The USAAF Ninth Air Force
The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint De ...
used the base for several units from 15 September 1944 until closing the base on 18 December 1945. Known units assigned were:
* 358th Fighter Group, 14 September-16 October 1944 (P-47)
* 573d Bombardment Squadron (391st Bombardment Group), 27 May-27 July 1945 (A-26)
* 572d Bombardment Squadron (391st Bombardment Group), 5 June-27 July 1945 (A-26)
* 574th Bombardment Squadron (391st Bombardment Group), 5 June-31 July 1945 (A-26)
* 575th Bombardment Squadron (391st Bombardment Group), 1 June-31 July 1945 (A-26)
Vitry was also used by RAF well known units and used again as a marshalling and assembly area for transport units for elements of the First Allied Airborne Army
The First Allied Airborne Army was an Allied formation formed on 2 August 1944 by the order of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. The formation was part of the Allied Expeditionary For ...
during Operation Varsity
Operation Varsity (24 March 1945) was a successful airborne forces operation launched by Allied troops that took place toward the end of World War II. Involving more than 16,000 paratroopers and several thousand aircraft, it was the largest air ...
in March 1945.
* No. 184 Squadron RAF
No. 184 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron during the second world war.
History
No.184 Squadron was formed at RAF Colerne on 1 December 1942, as a fighter bomber unit equipped with the Hawker Hurricane. Initially, Mark IIDs with 40mm anti-ta ...
, 4–15 September 1944 ( Hawker Typhoon IB)
* No. 226 Squadron RAF
No. 226 Squadron RAF was a unit of the British Royal Air Force that existed as a bomber squadron during the First and Second World Wars, and as part of the UK's nuclear ballistic missile force in the early 1960s.
Squadron history
First formed o ...
"Sussex Missions" (137th Wing), 17 October 1944 – 22 April 1945 ( Mitchell II)
* No. 88 Squadron RAF
Number 88 Squadron was an aircraft squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was formed at Gosport, Hampshire in July 1917 as a Royal Flying Corps (RFC) squadron.
First World War
After forming at Gosport in July 1917, the squadron was moved to Fran ...
(137th Wing), 17 October 1944 – 6 April 1945 ( Douglas Boston III & IV)
* No. 107 Squadron RAF (137th Wing), 17 October 1944 – 19 November 1944 (Douglas Boston III & IV)
* No. 342 Squadron RAF "FAFL Groupe Lorraine" (137th Wing), 17 October 1944 – 22 April 1945 (Douglas Boston III & IV, Mitchell II)
With the war ended, it was also used as a storage area for surplus allied (mostly American) aircraft after the war by Air Technical Service Command
The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...
.USAFHRA Document 00072767
/ref>
Vitry-En-Artois was returned to French control on 18 December 1945.
Postwar
In French control after the war, the airfield sat abandoned for years. There was much unexploded ordnance at the site which needed to be removed, as well as the wreckage of German and Allied aircraft. All of the buildings at the base were destroyed by the Allied air attacks or demolition, and although some had been repaired by the American combat engineers, most were in ruins. The French Air Force wanted nothing to do with a Nazi airfield on French soil, and as a result, the Air Ministry leased the land, concrete runways, structures and all, out to farmers for agricultural use, sending in unexploded ordnance teams to remove the dangerous munitions.
Eventually the facility was cleared of all the rubble and ruins of the German airfield. Concrete taxiways, parking ramps and dispersal pads were removed and turned into hardcore aggregate, eventually clearing the land which was leased to farmers for agricultural fields.
The current airfield was built south of the wartime airfield, along the D950. It has no connection to the wartime field. Relics of both wartime runways still exist, and single-lane agricultural roads are the remains of some of the former taxiways. The runways are still littered with bomb craters, now grown in by soil and grass and other vegetation.
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 Hauts-de-France
World War II airfields in France
Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in France