Toussus-le-Noble airfield
Aéroport de Toussus-le-Noble |
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| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | LFPN |
| IATA code | TNF |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 164 m (538 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 6 km south of Versailles |
| Street | D 938 |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1907 |
| operator | ADP |
| surface | 167 ha |
| Runways | |
| 07L / 25R | 1100 m × 30 m asphalt |
| 07R / 25L | 1050 m × 30 m asphalt |
The Aéroport de Toussus-le-Noble is an airport of general aviation for the French capital region Ile-de-France . It is located in the Yvelines department southwest of Paris in the area of Toussus-le-Noble and Châteaufort south of Buc .
history
First airfield
The Toussus-le-Noble airfield has been used for aviation since 1907. The first users on the field at Buc were Robert Esnault-Pelterie , who made the first flight with his REP 1 on the field in October 1907 , and the Farman brothers from 1909 . At first there were only simple hangars near Lake Trou Salé. (Two kilometers to the north, Louis Blériot set up another airfield in 1909/1910, his Aérodrome de Buc (see below).)
King Alfonso the XIII of Spain was a guest of a flight demonstration here in 1913 in the presence of Roland Garros .
After the end of the First World War , short-haul commercial aircraft of the type Farman Goliath were manufactured in a neighboring third area in 1919 . On February 8, 1919, works pilot Lucien Bossoutrot carried out the first international scheduled flight to Kenley near London with an F.60 "Goliath" from Toussus-le-Noble airfield for the Lignes Farman with 11 passengers .
A first passenger terminal was built in 1936, but the site was taken over by the military on the eve of World War II and used and expanded by the German Air Force as the war continued after the 1940 armistice . Only part of the Sturzkampfgeschwader 77 (StG 77), which was equipped with Ju 87B at that time, was stationed here for a longer period between December 1940 and March 1941 . It was about the squadron staff, which also had some Do 17 available, as well as the II. Group (II./StG 77). The airfield was the target of Allied bombers several times.
After the area was liberated by the US Army and the little damaged area was briefly repaired, the airfield became a base for the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) as Airfield A.46 at the end of August 1944 . In September the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group was located here , the reconnaissance group was under the Ninth Air Force . The airfield was then used for replenishment and connecting flights. Staff aircraft from the Allied headquarters in Paris were also stationed here.
On the return flight from a conference with Field Marshal Montgomery in Brussels , the British Admiral Ramsay and other officers were killed when his Lockheed Hudson crashed .
The airfield was returned to France at the beginning of August 1945 and the Aéroports de Paris have been responsible for civilian flight operations since 1946. As a result, the company expanded it into an airport for business travelers.
At the same time, the airfield was still used for military purposes; in 1946/1947 the hunting group (Groupe de Chasse) III / 5 “Normandie-Niémen” of the Armée de l'air was located here .
In 1947, instead of the French air force, the naval aviators took over the military sector for material supply , the Service d'Approvisionnement en Matériel de l'Aéronautique Navale (SAMAN). Later, a separate area was added for the operation of the Breguet 1150 Atlantic , the Center International de Gestion des Matériels Atlantic (CIGMA). The Farman company was also still active at the time.
In 1972, when 210,000 flight movements were counted, the airfield was to be expanded to four runways, but this failed because of local resistance and the proximity of other airfields ( Orly , Villacoublay ). Nonetheless, the infrastructure was modernized in the following years, while at the same time limiting the annual flight movements to 180,000 and aircraft under 12 tons.
The military use by the Navy ended in 2010 and in 2011/2012 there was an initiative to close the airfield, which was not implemented. However, operations were again restricted, including the closure of customs clearance, which means that international flights are no longer possible.
Second airfield
The former Aérodrome de Buc or Aérodrome Toussue-Buc (German Airfield Buc) was established in 1909/10 two kilometers north of the airfield Toussus-le-Noble by Louis Blériot . Blériot established this place as an aeroparc and hangars and a flight school were built by the beginning of the First World War. A military flight school was added during the war. The airfield and aircraft production remained the property of Blériot in the post-war period. After his death in 1936, the industrial sector was nationalized, with the state aircraft construction company SNCASO discontinuing industrial aircraft construction at the Buc location.
As a result of the Second World War, the military again took control of the airfield in 1939, which was also used by the Luftwaffe during the further course of the war , which merged the two airfields during the Second World War . During this time, two concrete runways were built and new parking areas extended to the Toussus-Noble airfield in the south. Essentially, reconnaissance aircraft were stationed here between July 1940 and August 1944. The staff of the reconnaissance group 123 lay here over the entire period. In addition, there was also the 1st squadron of the same group (1. (F) / 123) until May 1943 and, between May and November 1942, the 1st squadron of reconnaissance group 33 (1st (F) / 33).
After the liberation, Buc was also used by the Ninth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Airfield Y.4 , the allied code name for Buc, was initially the base of the 109th Tactical Recconaissance Squadron in August / September 1944 . In September 1944, the 47th Liaison Squadron followed, followed by the 112th Liaison Squadron , which was here until June 1945.
The airfield was used civilly again from 1948. In addition, a part was still occupied by the French army aviators . In the 1960s, the Aviation Legere de l'armée de Terre (ALAT) was relocated to Les Mureaux and the Buc airfield was closed in a row.
The street names of the industrial area that arose here in the following decades are reminiscent of the area's aviation past.
Todays use
Today the airport is used exclusively for general aviation . It is the base of several companies that rent business jets and helicopters. There are also a number of aviation clubs and flight schools on the site.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Hermann WL Moedebeck : Flight technology. Henri Farman and R. Esnault-Pelterie . In: Oberrheinischer Verein für Luftschiffahrt (Hrsg.): Illustrated Aeronautical Messages . No. 12 . Braunbeck & Gutenberg, Berlin 1907, p. 446–451 ( IAM on volaticum [accessed April 13, 2019]).
- ↑ February 8, 1919 - First international scheduled flight in the world. In: due date. WDR , February 8, 2019, accessed April 13, 2019 .
- ↑ Aéronautique navale: Fermeture de l'ETAN de Toussus-le-Noble, Mer et Marine, August 21, 2010