Saint-André-de-l'Eure Airport
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Saint-André-de-l'Eure Airport (Advanced Landing Ground B-24) |
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| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Location | Saint-André-de-l'Eure, France | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 489 ft / 149 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 48°53′43″N 001°15′05″E / 48.89528°N 1.25139°ECoordinates: 48°53′43″N 001°15′05″E / 48.89528°N 1.25139°E | ||||||||||
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 LFFD
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Saint-André-de-l'Eure Airport (ICAO: LFFD) is a regional airport in France, located about 10 miles southwest of Évreux (Haute-Normandie).
It supports general aviation with no commercial airline service scheduled.
The airport was built in the 1930s as a regional airport in the Haute-Normandie, probably using a circular grass airfield, with airplanes taking of in any direction into the prevailing wind at the time of takeoff.
It was seized by the Germans during the Battle of France in 1940 and was used during the German Occupation of France as a major Luftwaffe combat airfield. Its initial use was by Jagdgeschwader 2 (JG 2), in late June 1940 which was being rotated though several different airfields in northwest France flying Messerschmitt Bf 109Es.
Left unused for over a year while construction of concrete runways, taxiways and other permanent facilities took place, several bomber units Kampfgeschwader 30 (KG 30) with Junkers Ju 88As, and Kampfgeschwader 55 (KG 55) with Heinkel He 111H's used St-André for night bomber attacks against England from July 1941 until April 1942. Both were sent to the Eastern Front as the bombing campaign over England began to wind down.
From July 1942 onward, St-André was used primarily as a day interceptor fighter airfield against the USAAF Eighth Air Force heavy bomber offensive over Occupied Europe and Germany. A succession of fighter units began using the base for interceptor mission in 1942, JG 25 and SKG 10, both flying Focke-Wulf Fw 190As until June 1943 when the base was temporarily taken off operational status for repairs and upgrades. St-André became operational again in late April 1944 with a series of units using the airfield with Messerschmitt Me 410As, Ju 88As, Junkers Ju 188A, and Bf 109G fighter interceptors until the Luftwaffe was driven from the airfield in mid July 1944 by the advancing Allied ground forces in the Northern France campaign.
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Wikipedia