Tours Airport

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Aéroport de Tours Val de Loire
Base aérienne 705 Tours
Tours Val de Loire airport.jpg
Characteristics
ICAO code LFOT
IATA code TUF
Coordinates

47 ° 25 '55 "  N , 0 ° 43' 23"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 25 '55 "  N , 0 ° 43' 23"  E
Height above MSL 109 m (358  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center 6 km northeast of Tours
Street A10
Basic data
operator Edeis
surface 320 ha
Terminals 1
Passengers 195,402 (2019)
Flight
movements 		1,450 (2019)
Capacity
( PAX per year) 		100,000
Start-and runway
02/20 2404 m × 45 m concrete

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The Tours Airport is a French airport in the Indre-et-Loire . It lies between the parishes of Tours and Parçay-Meslay . The airport is managed by the Société Anonyme d'Economie Mixte Locale (SEMAVAL). As base aérienne 705 Tours , the airport also serves as a military airfield for the French air force , which is named after the "Commandants Jean et François Tulasne".

history

The origins of the airport go back to the time of the First World War , when the Armée de l'Air opened a flight school near Tours in November 1915. In addition to a large number of French pilots, American pilots were also trained, even before the USA entered the war. After this, the airfield was made available to the American Expeditionary Forces from summer 1917 , which operated their Second Aviation Instructional Center at the Tours Aerodrome .

After the end of the war, the airfield, unlike many other military airfields, continued to be used by the French air forces. In the 1920s it housed the 31st observation aircraft regiment , 31e régiment d'aviation d'observation (31e RAO), consisting of two groups of observation aircraft and one group of reconnaissance aircraft, each with two squadrons.

The civil joint use of the Aérodrome de Tours St Symphorien began in the 1930s and military use was expanded in 1933, when the area also became the home of the 2nd Fighter Squadron ( 2e regiment de chasse ) for three years . At the beginning of 1937, the 31st Regiment was converted into a bomber squadron ( 31e escadre de bombardement ) while the Aérodrome was now referred to as Base 109 (BA 109). Tours then became an additional base for the newly established 51st bomber squadron. When the Second World War broke out , the two squadrons were equipped with LéO 45 or Bloch 210 and Breguet 693 and in December 1939 a third user was added with the reconnaissance school ( center d'instruction de reconnaissance ), equipped with Potez 63.11 .

After the armistice in June 1940 during the Second World War, the base continued to be used by the German Air Force , which had bombed it shortly before. The Group I of the combat squadron 27 (I./KG 27) was from July 1940 to June 1941 the first major users, they flew the He 111H / P .

In July 1943, the Fw 190A of the 2nd squadron of Jagdgeschwader 2 (2./JG 2) lay here for a few weeks for night flight training. In the same month the association driving school equipped with Ju 88A for fighter pilot training also moved to Tours. It was renamed to I. Group of Kampfgeschwader 60 (I./KG 60) in early August 1942 . In the middle of October of that year, the two squadrons of the group moved to Banak while the staff remained in Tours as an association leader course. At the beginning of February it was renamed the Association Commanding School of Kampfgeschwader 101 (VFS KG101). The two training squadrons stayed here until May 1944 before moving to Ansbach .

After the Allied invasion of Normandy to the north, the Fw 190A of the I. Group of Schnellkampfgeschwader 10 (I./SKG 10) flew from Tours in June / July 1944. From the beginning of July the unit operated as III. Group of Kampfgeschwaders 51 (III./KG 51). Tours was repeatedly targeted by Allied air strikes while in use by the Air Force.

Association badge of the base 705
T-33, école de chasse , Tours, 1980

After the end of the war, the airfield became a NATO base, used in particular by the United States Air Force (USAF). From 1952 it became home to the French Air Force again when the 02/20 runway, which is still in use today, was built in the same year. At first there was a night hunting group , the Groupe de chasse nuit "Lorraine", which was equipped with Meteor NF.11 . Two more groups, "Loire" and "Camargue", were added later. Together they formed the 30th all-weather fighter squadron, 30e escadre de chasse tout temps , which flew the SO.4050 Vautour from 1957 . The Vautours stayed until 1961 when they were relocated to Reims .

The civil joint use began again in 1953, although the airport was only served with passenger flights from 1968 by the TAT . The first flight connection was to Lyon, served from 1997 by Air Liberté until 2001; in addition, London was seasonally in the flight schedule. A few other connections turned out to be uneconomical and were each discontinued after a short time. Mainly smaller propeller planes were used. The average annual number of passengers was 15,000 and in good years it was 20,000. In the course of the bankruptcy of Air Liberté's parent company Swissair , that came out in 2001.

Alpha Jet E, école d'aviation de chasse

The main military user since March 1961 has been the école de chasse , the fighter pilot school that used the MD.450 Ouragan and the T-33 at the time, the former being replaced by the Mystère IV after a short time . Since then, members of the naval aviators have also been trained in Tours. The conversion to Alpha Jets took place between 1979 and 1981, when the T-33 was taken out of service. The school was subordinate to two training groups, Escadron d'instruction en vol (EIV).

In 2002 there was a civil restart when the low-cost airline Buzz set up a line to Stanstead . In the following year Buzz was taken over by Ryanair and in the following years further connections were added, with Ryanair serving the majority of the connections.

The école d'aviation de chasse (EAC), the name of the fighter pilot school since 1994, was decommissioned with the decommissioning of the Alpha Jets in 2020. The last night flight took place in May 2020 and on June 5, 2020 the EAC was officially decommissioned.

Military use

After the relocation of fighter pilot training to base 709 in Cognac in summer 2020, there will be no regular military flight operations in Tours. A division for training on the ground, a standardization facility and the maintenance unit for the aircraft are also stationed here.

Civil use

The airport is regularly served by Ryanair . Flight destinations are u. a. London , Dublin and Figari . Additional charter flights take place during the holiday periods.

Transport links

  • Car: A10 motorway , exit N ° 20 towards Tours, follow the signs
  • Train: SNCF to Tours, shuttle bus from the bus station to the airport

See also

Web links

Commons : Tours Val de Loire Airport  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Base aérienne 705 Tours  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edeis reprend l'ensemble des actifs français de SNC-Lavalin , accessed on February 27, 2017.
  2. ↑ a b Bulletin statistiquetrafic aérien commercial - Année 2019. In: ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr. Ministère de la Transition écologique et solidaire, accessed on June 7, 2020 (French).
  3. ↑ Dernier vol de nuit d'instruction pour l'EAC, Armée de l'air News, May 20, 2020
  4. ↑ Dernier macaronnage de l'EAC de Tours, Armée de l'air News, July 7, 2020