Caen-Carpiquet Airport

Aéroport de Caen-Carpiquet
Characteristics
ICAO code	LFRK
IATA code	CFR
Coordinates	49 ° 10 '24 "  N , 0 ° 27' 0"  W Coordinates: 49 ° 10 '24 "  N , 0 ° 27' 0"  W.
Height above MSL	78 m (256  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	6 km west of Caen
Basic data
opening	1938
operator	CCI Caen
Terminals	1
Passengers	304,713 (2019)
Air freight	0 t (2019)
Flight movements	4,976 (2019)
Runways
13/31	1900 m × 45 m asphalt
05/23	1180 m × 45 m asphalt

The Aéroport de Caen-Carpiquet ( IATA code CFR , ICAO code LFRK ) is a French airport in Normandy , around 7 kilometers west of Caen .

There are no direct flights to it from German-speaking countries, but several times a day with Brit Air on behalf of Air France via Lyon and with Airlinair in cooperation with Chalair several times a day via Paris-Orly.

history

A missile is launched from a Typhoon of the 181st Squadron of the Royal Air Force at Carpiquet Airfield

The airfield at Carpiquet was at the time of Operation Overlord and the Battle for Caen a fiercely contested bridge because there is an important ally for the airfield was for replenishment. Today the airport of the city of Caen is located on the site.

Base aérienne 720 de Caen-Carpiquet

On August 17, 1939, on the eve of the outbreak of World War II, the French Air Force took over the facility, which they named Base aérienne 720 de Caen-Carpiquet (BA 720).

In 1930 the city of Caen decided to build an airfield in the vicinity of the city. It was decided to locate the airfield near the town of Carpiquet, west of Caen. Construction, which began in July 1937, was completed in March of the following year.

In June 1940, the Germans conquered the airfield during the western campaign , which they expanded in a row. During the Battle of Britain , the I. Group of Sturzkampfgeschwader 77 (I./SG 77) used a field airfield a few kilometers south near Maltot from June 1940 to March 1941 . The first smaller unit stationed in Carpiquet itself was from August 1940 to March 1941 the 1st squadron of the reconnaissance group 121 (1st (F) / 121) followed by the coastal aviation group 806 , whose Ju 88A were here from September 1940 to June 1941.

During the Cerberus operation , the staff and I. Group of Jagdgeschwader 2 (S. and I./JG 2), both with Bf 109F, were located here . Its second group had already been here a few days earlier. At the end of May 1942, the 10th squadron of Jagdgeschwader 26 , initially equipped with Bf 109E fighter-bombers , moved here until the end of July and spent two weeks in Le Bourget to convert to the Fw 190A over the change of month between June and July . Between July and September 1942, the 10th squadron of JG 2 (10th (Jabo) / JG 2) with its Bf 109E and F was located here 1942 and March 1943 was again stationed in Caen. Parallel to the 10th (Jabo) / JG 2 was here, also equipped with Fw 190A, the II. Group of the Schnellkampfgeschwader 10 (II./SKG 10).

During Operation Windsor, Canadian units were commissioned to conquer the airfield near Carpiquet from the Germans on July 4, 1944.

The airfield should actually have been conquered on D-Day . Since this was unsuccessful, the Allies tried with Operation Windsor to break through the heavily fortified German positions at the airfield. Parts of the Canadian 7th and 8th Brigades and the Canadian 3rd Infantry Divisions were to carry out the attack.

After hard fighting, the Canadians managed to take the city of Carpiquet on July 5th. After a further three days, on July 8th, they also had the airfield at Carpiquet firmly under their control, after having withstood German counter-attacks.

The Armée de l'air used the airfield as a training facility from 1945, initially in the form of the Center d'instruction militaire 233 (CIM 233) and named it after the arrival of the Bataillon de l'Air 1/132 in 1951 in Base Aérienne 120 (BA 120 ) around. In the same year Caen also became the basis of the officers' school Ecole des élèves officiers de l'Armée de l'air (EEOAA).

The airfield was reclassified and numbered several times in the 1950s as a result of additional school activities. In 1967 the facility, now again referred to as Basis 720, was closed and activities were relocated to Basis 105 Evreux .

Aéroport de Caen-Carpiquet

In the following years, the airfield was expanded into a civil airfield from 1969, which is now the official airfield of the city of Caen.

Caen-Rocquancourt Airfield

During the Second World War, two kilometers south of Rocquancourt, there was a field airfield of the French Air Force, which was also used sporadically by the Air Force after the German occupation of France.

During the Battle of Britain the Bf 110C / D of the V (Destroyer) Group of Lehrgeschwader 1 (V (Z) / LG 1) were stationed here. The following spring was here with the III. Gruppe des Jagdgeschwader 2 (III./JG 2), which was equipped with Bf 109 E / F , another task force of the Luftwaffe.

See also

• List of airports in France

Web links

• More information at battletours.de
• Caen-Carpiquet Airport website (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Bulletin statistiquetrafic aérien commercial - Année 2019. In: ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr. Ministère de la Transition écologique et solidaire, accessed on May 24, 2020 (French).