Issoudun Aerodrome

Issoudun Aerodrome
Part of American Expeditionary Forces (AEF)
Located near: Issoudun, France
Issoudun Aerodrome - Field 3 with Nieuport 23M, 80 HP single seat (solo) aircraft, 1918.
Issoudun Aerodrome
Coordinates	46°57′38″N 001°59′39″E / 46.96056°N 1.99417°E / 46.96056; 1.99417Coordinates: 46°57′38″N 001°59′39″E / 46.96056°N 1.99417°E / 46.96056; 1.99417
Type	Training Complex
Site information
Controlled by	Air Service, United States Army
Condition	Abandoned, agricultural fields
Site history
Built	1917
In use	1917-1918
Battles/wars	World War I
Garrison information
Garrison	Third Air Instructional Center

Issoudun Aerodrome was a complex of military airfields in the vicinity of Issoudun, Centre, France. They were used during World War I as part of the Third Air Instructional Center, American Expeditionary Forces for training United States airmen prior to being sent into combat on the Western Front.

It was at that time the largest air base in the world. Today the entire complex consists of agricultural fields, the military facility totally obscured with no trace of its wartime history.

By the summer of 1917, two and a half years of the air war had begun to take a serious toll on the number of French and British aviators. While the United States possessed a relatively enormous pool of human resources, she lacked the well developed training methods and aircraft production capabilities of the Allies. In order to maximize the resources of both, the French submitted a memorandum to General George O. Squier, then the Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Army, suggesting the establishment of an American advanced flying school in France.

The site decided upon for this advanced aviation school was Issoudun, France. Issoudun, located about 100 miles southeast of Paris, was primarily chosen because the surrounding countryside was extremely level and relatively sparsely populated with wide-open spaces for flying fields. The site was also relatively close to a major government-owned railroad line. Probably just as important was its proximity to the aviation factories and new plane assembly fields in the south which were to supply the aircraft to be used in the training at Issoudun. In spite of the advantages of this location, significant work was required to bring the Third Aviation Instruction Center (3rd AIC), as it was to be named, to life.

When General John J. Pershing first saw the site it was nothing but a series of flat fields, with no barracks, hangars, buildings or classroom facilities. Under the agreement with the French, the United States was, “…to furnish 200 workman to erect it (3d AIC) and ‘all the tools, nails and other implements necessary,’ including a narrow-gauge railroad, while France was to furnish the planes, motors and suitably cleared land.” With this accomplished, American pilots were to begin training in July of 1917 and be ready for the front in the fall of the same year.