Ambérieu-en-Bugey Air Base () is a front-line

French Air and Space Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the French Air F ...

( or ''ALA'') base located approximately 5 km north-northwest of

Ambérieu-en-Bugey Ambérieu-en-Bugey (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Ain Departments of France, department, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region, France. With 14,288 inhabitants (2020), it is one of the largest towns of the historical regi ...

, in the

Ain Ain (, ; ) is a French department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where it ...

department of the

Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes () was an administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the river Rhône a ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

in eastern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Overview

Ambérieu-en-Bugey Air Base is a primary repair depot and supply centre for avionics, ground telecommunication equipment, navigation aids and the manufacture of simple equipment. It also supports calibration and repair of all Armée de l'Air precision measuring equipment and the manufacture and repair of aircrew survival equipment. Ambérieu has two Jodel D140C Mousquetaire aircraft assigned for courier duty.

World War II

Built during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as a temporary all-weather airfield, the facility was constructed by the

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 ...

XII Engineer Command during late August 1944 after German forces were cleared from the area. It was built on a graded surface using

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 r ...

for runways and parking areas, as well as for dispersal sites. In addition, tents were used for billeting and also for support facilities; an access road was built to the existing road infrastructure; a dump for supplies, ammunition, and gasoline drums, along with a drinkable water and minimal electrical grid for communications and station lighting. The airfield was known as Ambérieu Airfield or Advanced Landing Ground Y-5. It was turned over to the

Twelfth Air Force The Twelfth Air Force (12 AF; Air Forces Southern, (AFSOUTH)) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The command is the air component to U ...

for operational use on 6 September 1944. The

324th Fighter Group 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

flew

P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter-bomber that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry ...

s from the field during September, after which it moved up to Tavaux. Once the 324th moved out, Ambérieu Airfield became a rear area support base operated by the 1st Air Service Squadron for transport aircraft moving supplies and equipment to the front. With the end of the war in Europe in May, 1945 the Americans began to withdraw their aircraft and personnel. Control of the airfield was turned over to French authorities on 29 May 1945. * Maurer, Maurer. ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. . * * 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.

Facilities

The airport resides at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of above

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

. It has one paved

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

(01/19) with an

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

surface measuring , and one turf landing surface (02/20) measuring .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amberieu-En-Bugey Air Base French Air and Space Force bases World War II airfields in France Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in France Airports in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Buildings and structures in Ain Airports established in 1944

Overview

World War II

Facilities

See also

References