Toulouse-Montaudran airport
Coordinates: 43 ° 34 ′ 25 ″ N , 1 ° 28 ′ 55 ″ E
The airfield Toulouse-Montaudran ( ICAO code : LFIO; IATA Code : XYT, French Aerodrome / Aéroport de Montaudran ) was an airfield in the district Montaudran in the southern French city of Toulouse . He gained fame as the headquarters of the Aéropostale air mail company .
The airfield was created in 1917 when the aviation entrepreneur Pierre-Georges Latécoère established an aircraft factory in Montaudran. The first aircraft took off on December 25, 1918; it was the first airport in Toulouse. In the same year Latécoère founded the air mail company Société des lignes Latécoère , from which Aéropostale emerged in 1927 under a new owner . This gained a legendary reputation in France thanks to its long-haul flights to West Africa and South America. In the 1920s and early 1930s, numerous important pilots such as Henri Guillaumet , Jean Mermoz and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry flew for the Aéropostale. After a fraud scandal, the company was dissolved in 1932/33 and merged with the newly founded Air France .
From 1920 onwards, the first passengers were also transported from Montaudran. In the 1930s, however, passenger traffic was relocated to Francazal Airport (which in turn was replaced by Blagnac Airport in the post-war period ). Montaudran, on the other hand, was used by the aircraft industry and developed into a center for aircraft maintenance. In addition to a Groupe Latécoère plant , Breguet and Air France Industries were also to be found here. In the 1960s , numerous aviation research and training institutions, including the École nationale de l'aviation civile and the Supaéro , settled near the airfield, between Rangueil and Ramonville .
With the expansion of the company airport Blagnac northwest of Toulouse, the Montaudran airfield increasingly lost its importance. In 2003 Air France Industries closed the site; The last flight took place from here on December 18th of that year. The General Aviation more on the nearby airfield Lasbordes out. Since then finds a conversion of the land to the city construction project Montaudran Aerospace campus instead.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Great Circle Mapper: Montaudran Airport
- ↑ toulouse.aeroport.fr: L'aéroport de 1917 à 1950
- ↑ montaudran.org ( Memento from December 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Dernier décollage depuis l'aérodrome historique de Toulouse-Montaudran , December 18, 2003
- ↑ toulouse.fr: Toulouse Montaudran Aérospace ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
