Montreuil Airfield

Montreuil Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield, which is located near the commune of La Bazoge in the Pays-de-la-Loire region of northern France.

Montreuil Airfield
Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) A-38
Centre Region, France
Montreuil Airfield
Montreuil Airfield (France)
Coordinates48°05′29″N 000°11′16″E
TypeMilitary airfield
Site information
Controlled by  United States Army Air Forces
Site history
Built byIX Engineering Command
In useSeptember–October 1944
MaterialsPrefabricated Hessian Surfacing (PHS)
Battles/warsWestern Front (World War II)
  Eastern France/Benelux Campaign

Located just outside Montreuil (probably to the north of the town), the United States Army Air Force established a temporary airfield on 17 August 1944, shortly after the Allied landings in France. The airfield was constructed by the IX Engineering Command, 820th Engineer Aviation Battalion.

History

Known as Advanced Landing Ground "A-38", the airfield consisted of a single 5000' (1500m) prefabricated hessian surfacing/compressed earth runway (3600 PHS/1400 ETH) aligned 01/19. Tents were used for billeting and also for support facilities. An access road was built to the existing road infrastructure. There were a dump for supplies, ammunition, and gasoline drums, along with a drinkable water and minimal electrical grid for communications and station lighting.[1]

The 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group based a variety of reconnaissance aircraft at Montreuil from 4 September to 4 October 1944.[2]

After the Americans moved east into Central France with the advancing Allied armies, the airfield was closed on 5 October 1944. Today the long dismantled airfield is indistinguishable from the agricultural fields in the area.[3]

gollark: Also kind of a pun related to PotatOS, one of my weirder projects.
gollark: * POTAT-O5
gollark: It's a reference to a thing I like which originated as a joke between me and heavpoot, who is a Unicode Consortium member.
gollark: * POTAT-O5
gollark: Those on the POTAT-O5 Council have POTAT-O5 clearance.

See also

References
  1. IX Engineer Command ETO Airfields, Airfield Layout
  2. Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
  3. 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.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

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