Etain-Rouvres Air Base

Étain-Rouvres Air Base Base Lieutenant Étienne Mantoux
Part of United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE)
Located near: Étain, Meuse, France
F-86F-35NA 53-1117 of the 388th Fighter-Bomber Wing, 1955
Étain AB Location of Étain-Rouvres Air Base, France
Coordinates	49°13′36″N 5°40′20″E / 49.22667°N 5.67222°E / 49.22667; 5.67222Coordinates: 49°13′36″N 5°40′20″E / 49.22667°N 5.67222°E / 49.22667; 5.67222
Site information
Controlled by	Armée de Terre
Site history
Built	1953
In use	1954-Present
Garrison information
Garrison	3e Régiment d'Hélicoptères de Combat (3e RHC)

Étain - Rouvres Air Base (ICAO: LFQE) is a base of the French Army Light Aviation. It is located on the Lorraine Plateau in northeastern France, 1 mile (1.6 km) to the west of Étain; on the west side of the Départemental 906 (D906) (Meuse) road, adjacent to the village of Rouvres-en-Woevre in the Meuse département about 12 miles east of Verdun. During the Cold War, Étain-Rouvres was a front-line base for the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE).

Rouvres airdrome was built by the French Air Force in 1937. They flew Bloch-131 tactical reconnaissance aircraft. When World War II began, the Royal Air Force moved in flying Hawker Hurricanes of 73 Squadron.

After the fall of France, the Luftwaffe used the base, flying Focke-Wulf Fw 190Ds.

When the German Army was driven out by the U S Third Army in early September 1944, the airfield was put back into operational service by the United States Army Air Forces IX Engineer Command 926th Engineering Aviation Regiment. On 9 September the combat engineers arrived to lay down a temporary airfield to support the ground forces in their advance against enemy forces.

The 926th EAR laid down a 5000' grass runway aligned roughly east-west (08/26), along with a small support area. The 7th Field Hospital was stationed here on 13 Sep 1944, where C-47 transports of the IX Tactical Air Command evacuated wounded to General Hospitals in the rear.