Merville – Calonne Airport is a regional
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...
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 except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...
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, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
'' 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 Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
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 air ...
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)
World War II airfields in France