Villacoublay military airfield
| Base aérienne 107 Villacoublay | |||
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| Characteristics | |||
| ICAO code | LFPV | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Height above MSL | 178 m (584 ft ) | ||
| Transport links | |||
| Distance from the city center | 15 km southwest of Paris | ||
| Street |
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| Basic data | |||
| opening | August 1936 | ||
| operator | Armée de l'air | ||
| Start-and runway | |||
| 09/27 | 1813 m × 45 m asphalt | ||
The Base aérienne 107 Villacoublay (BA 107) is a military airport of the French Air Force ( Armée de l'air ) . The base is in the Region Ile-de-France in the department of Yvelines in the south of the municipal district of Velizy-Villacoublay , about 15 kilometers southwest of Paris . She is u. a. Home base of the Escadron de transport, d'entraînement et de calibration (ETEC), the flight readiness of the French government. The runway is currently closed; it will be renovated in 2012/2013 and extended by 146 meters and prepared for the operation of the Airbus A400M . During this time, flight operations with fixed-wing aircraft take place from neighboring Orly .
history
The first balloon and airship trips took place in Villacoublay at the end of the 19th century. The devices were housed and serviced in Hangar Y of the Établissement Central de l'Aérostation Militaire from 1879 . The airship La France , built in Hangar Y , was the first fully controlled flight of an airship on August 9, 1884, during which it was possible to return to the place of ascent under its own power.
In the period before the First World War , some of the most famous French aviation pioneers such as Breguet , Morane-Saulnier and Dassault made a contribution to aviation in Villacoublay. During the war it was first used for military purposes in the defense of Paris. After the war, the aerodrome became the scene of all kinds of air sports events. Military use continued, the space was used for training and testing. The "Base aérienne 107 - Sous-lieutenant Dorme" was finally set up in 1936 as part of the armament in the run-up to the Second World War for the French air forces.
During the war, after the end of the western campaign, the Wehrmacht's Luftwaffe used the site from June 1940. During the following twelve months, in which the Battle of Britain took place in particular , Villacoublay served as a bomber base for Heinkel He 111P / H of Kampfgeschwader 55 (KG 55 ), in June / July initially for a few weeks those of Kampfgeschwader 27 (KG 27). Between November 1940 and May 1941 Junkers Ju 88s of the reconnaissance group 14 (AFG 14) also used the site. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Villacoublay served until February 1943 at Fighter Pilot School 5 (JFS 5) equipped with Messerschmitt Bf 109 . Due to the reinforcement of the Allied bomber offensive against the Reich, however, the base became a base for combat units again. Villacoublay was the home of day fighters to ward off incoming bomber formations of the Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), until August 1943 Bf-109 of Jagdschulgeschwaders 105 (JG 105) and after a one-year break it came in as a direct result of the Allied invasion Normandy from June 1944 to use by Focke-Wulf Fw 190 of Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54). Until the airfield was conquered by the Western Allies at the end of August, the area was regularly attacked by light (fighter) bombers from the Ninth Air Force of the USAAF - mostly synchronized with attacks by the heavy bombers of the 8th US Air Fleet.
A few days later, Airfield A.42 , the Allied code name, became the base of P-47 Thunderbolt of the 48th Fighter Group of the 9th Air Force for a few weeks . With the Allied advance towards Germany, it followed the front and as a result Villacoublay became the logistical base and as such a base for a large number of changing C-47 Skytrain air transport squadrons. At the end of August 1946, the facility was returned to France. The Armée de l'air has been using Villacoublay in its current function since then.
Todays use
The base currently (2012) hosts two flying squadrons:
- ETEC 0/65 "Gaël", transport group with Airbus A330-200 (stationed in Évreux, BA105 ), Falcon 7X , Falcon 900 , Falcon 50 , TBM 700 and AS332 Super Puma (first stationed here in 1921)
- EH 3/67 "Parisis", helicopter group with AS555 Fennec (since 1964)
There are also other non-flying formations.
Incidents
On July 20, 1948, the prototype of the heavy transport aircraft SNCAC NC.211 Cormoran crashed on its maiden flight about 20 minutes after take-off. It was to be transferred from Toussus-le-Noble airfield , where it was built, to the Villacoublay military airfield for flight testing. On approach, he fell from a height of 250 meters about one kilometer east of the Villacoublay destination airfield into a forest when the flaps were extended to the 40 ° position. The machine caught fire and burned out. All five crew members were killed.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Groupe Historique de Toussus-le-Noble n ° 6, année 2001: L'Histoire du Cormoran (French), p. 7, accessed on January 24, 2019.
- ↑ Accident report SNCAC Cormoran # 01 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 24, 2019.
- Homepage of BA107 Villacoublay (French)