Pontoise-Cormeilles Airport
| Aerodrome de Pontoise-Cormeilles | |
|---|---|
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| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | LFPT |
| IATA code | POX |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 99 m (325 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 7 km northwest of Pontoise |
| Street |
D 915 , 15 km 
|
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1937 |
| operator | Aéroports de Paris |
| surface | 235 ha |
| Runways | |
| 05/23 | 1689 m × 50 m asphalt |
| 12/30 | 1230 m × 50 m asphalt |
The Aérodrome de Pontoise-Cormeilles is an airport of general aviation , it is in the Region Ile-de-France in the department of Val-d'Oise in the field of Cormeilles-en-Vexin , Génicourt and Boissy-l'Aillerie 40 kilometers northwest of Paris . The airfield was used as a military airfield during the Second World War .
history
The airfield was created in 1937 as a military airfield for the French Air Force . During World War II he served after the armistice of June 1940 the German Air Force as an air base Cormeilles. The two paved runways that are still in use today were also built during this time.
During the following Battle of Britain between June 1940 and July 1940 the III. Group of Kampfgeschwaders 76 (III./KG 76) with their Do 17Z and later Ju 88A stationed there. In between December 1940 and April 1941 she moved to Illesheim to convert it to the Ju 88A . In addition, the staff of KG 76 was located here in parallel until March 1941.
In the last six weeks of 1942 He 111 of the 11th Squadron of Kampfgeschwader 53 (11./KG 53) and between the beginning of December and September 1943 Ju 88A of the II. Group of Kampfgeschwaders 6 (II./KG 6) lay here . Both bombed targets in England at night .
As a result of the increase in the Allied bomber offensive , Cormeilles became a base for initially two squadrons of III at the end of November 1943 . Group of Jagdgeschwader 2 (III./JG 2) with their Fw 190A plus the squadron staff. In addition, from February 1944, Ju 188 of the 3rd squadron of Kampfgeschwader 66 (3./KG 66) operated to combat ships in English waters . The staff of JG 2 moved in mid-May to Creil and in place of the two squadrons of III. Group I joined the first group at the same time (I./JG 2).
As the base of the Fw 190, the airfield was repeatedly the target of air strikes by the Ninth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), which attacked Cormeilles with B-26 and P-47 at times when heavy bombers of the Eighth Air Force were in Range of the interceptors stationed here.
After the start of the Allied invasion of Normandy , both KG 66 and JG 2 were withdrawn from Cormeilles and after the area was liberated by the Allies, the airfield was poorly repaired by the Americans.
Airfield A.59 , Cormeilles-En-Vexin's allied code name, then became the base of the 344th Bombardment Group of the Ninth Air Force of the USAAF, which was stationed here with its B-26 from the end of September 1944 to May 9, 1945. At the end of the war, the 344th was replaced by the 410th Bombardment Group , which was withdrawn with its A-26 in June 1945. The airfield was returned to France in mid-July 1945.
After the war, the airfield was restored and opened for civil air traffic in August 1946. The Aéroports de Paris have been the operator since April 1949, using it as an alternative to the main airports of Orly and Le Bourget until 1952 . In the south-east of the civil area, part of the infrastructure remained in state ownership.
At times the airfield was also in the flight schedules of airlines. Aigle Azur (1970) flew to Gatwick between 1988 and 1995 and Debonair served Luton in 1998/99 . There were also flights from Skysouth during the season and most recently in spring 2013 Brighton City Airways to Brighton . In August 2013, a Zeppelin NT from Airship Paris landed here for the first time in France .
Todays use
The airfield is used in particular for general aviation and air sports.
Web links
- Aerodrome page on the Aéroports de Paris website (French)
- Aeronautical map for Pontoise-Cormeilles Airport on SkyVector.com