Romorantin-Pruniers airfield
| Détachement air 273 Romorantin-Pruniers Aérodrome de Romorantin-Pruniers |
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| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | LFYR |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 88 m (289 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 8 km southwest of Romorantin-Lanthenay |
| Street |
D 724 2 km to 
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| Basic data | |
| opening | 1912 |
| operator | Armée de l'air Aéroclub de Sologne |
| Runways | |
| 05R / 23L | 950 m × 100 m grass |
| 05L / 23R | 800 m × 100 m grass |
The Détachement air 273 Romorantin-Pruniers (DA 273) "Lieutenant-colonel Mailfert" is a military airfield of the French Air Force ( Armée de l'air ) . The base is in the Region Center-Val de Loire in the department of Loir-et-Cher . The airfield is located southwest of Romorantin-Lanthenay in the area of the municipalities of Pruniers-en-Sologne and Gièvres .
The airfield is one of the oldest facilities of the French Air Force, whose origins go back to 1912. During the First World War he served in the Air Service of the United States Army and in the Second World War in the German Air Force .
history
The airfield was built in 1912 on the initiative of the French Aviation Directorate between Orléans and Chateauroux and was initially equipped with a grass runway and a hangar that still exists today.
During the First World War, a training facility for the Armée de l'air was located here from 1915 and in 1917 it was selected as the base of a depot for the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF). The first Americans met in Romorantin in June and the airfield was massively expanded as a result. The Air Service Production Center No. 2 subsequently housed five hangars including one for balloons and two airfields as well as railway tracks and a field railway. The facility was used for the final assembly and testing of prefabricated aircraft kits such as the Airco DH4 as well as the repair and modification of aircraft and equipment.
After the end of the war, the area was returned to France in 1919, whose air forces only continued to use a smaller area in the following two decades. In those years the airfield was given the designation "BA 304", Camp Blume (BA for Base aérienne ).
During the western campaign of the German Wehrmacht , Camp Blume was bombed several times by the Luftwaffe in May and June 1940 and after the armistice it was taken over by the Luftwaffe as the Romorantin field air park. In addition to the He 111 in the autumn of 1940 during the Battle of Britain , the Fw 190 of the 1st Squadron of the Jagdgeschwader 105 (1./JG105) were the only German fighter planes permanently stationed here that lay here from mid-March to early August 1944. In April, the airfield was hit by Eighth Air Force bombers of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF).
After the Luftwaffe withdrew, the free French troops took over the airfield in early September 1944.
Todays use
Since December 1944, the Armée de l'air has again been the landlord of the military airfield, which was initially classified as Base aérienne 273 , and since then has again operated a depot here on the area previously developed by the Americans, which today is mainly used for Rafale maintenance and a center for technical Documentation. One of the two airfields has been used for training glider pilots since 1973 .
Web links
- Homepage of the local aero club (French)
- Aeronautical map for Romorantin-Pruniers airfield on SkyVector.com