Viry-Châtillon () is a commune in the southern suburbs of
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
Inhabitants of Viry-Châtillon are also known as ''Castelvirois'' in French.
Sports
The town is home to the women's football team
Paris FC
Paris Football Club (French pronunciation: Help:IPA/French, aʁi futbol klœb, commonly referred to as Paris FC or simply PFC, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris, France. They will compete in Ligue ...
. It was also the base of the engine division of the
Formula One
Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
constructor
Renault
Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...
Erftstadt
Erftstadt () is a town located about 20 km south-west of Cologne in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis, state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The name of the town derives from the river that flows through it, the Erft. The neighbouring towns are Brüh ...
, Germany
*
Wokingham
Wokingham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It is the main administrative centre of the wider Borough of Wokingham. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 38,284 and the wider built-up area had a populati ...
In May 1909 a venue for aviation races and exhibitions,
Port-Aviation
Port-Aviation was an airfield in the Communes of France, commune of Viry-Châtillon in Seine-et-Oise (now in Essonne), France. It operated as a popular air racing and aviation exhibition venue and hosted civilian flight schools from its opening in ...
, opened to the public in Viry-Châtillon as the world's first purpose-built
aerodrome
An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes inc ...
. A popular attraction, it hosted aviation exhibitions and
air races
An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...
, attracting large crowds from Paris. It was the site of many aviation experiments and firsts and also hosted
horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...
,
bicycle racing
Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling spo ...
, and
cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...
events.
Savigny-sur-Orge station
Savigny-sur-Orge is a railway station in Savigny-sur-Orge, Essonne, Paris, France. The station is on the Paris–Bordeaux railway and Grande Ceinture line, a freight railway around Paris. The station is served by Paris' express suburban rail sys ...
in neighboring
Savigny-sur-Orge
Savigny-sur-Orge (, literally ''Savigny upon Orge'') is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 19.1 km (11.9 mi) from the center of Paris in the département
In the administrative divisions of France, ...
served the airfield's distinguished visitors, while most of the general public attending events at Port-Aviation arrived by rail at
Juvisy station
Juvisy is a railway station in Juvisy-sur-Orge, Essonne, Île-de-France, France. The station was opened in 1840 and is on the Paris–Bordeaux railway, Villeneuve-Saint-Georges-Montargis railway and Grande Ceinture line, a freight railway aroun ...
in
Juvisy-sur-Orge
Juvisy-sur-Orge (, literally ''Juvisy on Orge'') is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located southeast of Paris and a few kilometres south of Orly Airport.
The city is known for Gare de Juvisy, ...
, where a sign in the railway station directed visitors to "Juvisy Airfield." Much to the consternation of the civic leaders and residents of Viry-Châtillon, this led the press and
post card
In computing, a POST card is a plug-in diagnostic Expansion card, interface card that displays progress and error codes generated during power-on self-test (POST) of a computer. It is used to troubleshoot computers that do not Booting, start ...
publishers to refer habitually to Port-Aviation by the misnomers "Juvisy Airfield," and occasionally "Savigny Airfield," and to aviation events there as taking place in "Juvisy" or "Juvisy-sur-Orge." The misnomer "Juvisy Airfield" for Port-Aviation and the inaccurate association of Juvisy-sur-Orge with its location have persisted ever since. Port-Aviation closed to the public in 1914 due to financial problems, but during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
served as a military aviation training site before it was abandoned in 1918. A housing district, also called Port-Aviation, was constructed on the site of the former airfield between 1919 and 1933 and by the 21st century had a population of 5,000 people. In 2009, Viry-Châtillon commemorated the centennial of Port-Aviation and opened a heritage trail for pedestrians with signs indicating the locations of the airfield's structures, only one of which survives.
See also
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Communes of the Essonne department
The following is a list of the 194 communes of the Essonne department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2025):Official website