Tours Aerodrome

Tours Aerodrome Second Air Instructional Center
Part of American Expeditionary Forces (AEF)
Located near: Tours, France
2d Air Instructional Center (Looking from the southeast to northwest), Tours Aerodrome, France, 1918
Tours Aerodrome
Coordinates	47°25′50″N 000°43′08″E / 47.43056°N 0.71889°E / 47.43056; 0.71889 (Tours Aerodrome)Coordinates: 47°25′50″N 000°43′08″E / 47.43056°N 0.71889°E / 47.43056; 0.71889 (Tours Aerodrome)
Type	Pilot training airfield
Site information
Controlled by	Air Service, United States Army
Condition	Tours Val de Loire Airport (Base Aérienne 604).
Site history
Built	1918
In use	1918–Present
Battles/wars	World War I
Garrison information
Garrison	2d Air Instructional Center American Expeditionary Forces

Tours Aerodrome was a complex of military airfields in the French department of Indre-et-Loire, 6 km (3.2 NM) north-northeast of the city of Tours. They were used during World War I as part of the Second Air Instructional Center (2d AIC), American Expeditionary Forces for training United States airmen prior to being sent into combat.

Today Tours Airdrome #1 airfield is Tours Val de Loire Airport (Base Aérienne 604).

The airfield complex is located about three miles northwest of the city of Tours, Department of Indre-et-Loire, on the main road to Vendome.

Tours initially was established by the French Air Force (French: Armée de l'Air as a training school for pilots prior to the United States entry into World War I. On 23 July 1917, a group of 47 enlisted Air Service men arrived in France on the SS Orduna. Ten members were ordered to Paris to receive ground commissions while the balance were sent to Tours for flying training. The training was provided by an agreement made with the French to train a limited number of Americans, then the entire school would be turned over to the Headquarters Air Service, American Expeditionary Force on 1 September. However, owing to a limited number of personnel available, the French retained overall control of the school until the end of the war in November 1917.

A number of secondary training airfields, along with the main complex were established:

Also four emergency fields were located near Saint-Avertin, south of the Cher River about four miles south of the main airfield (#1).

In addition to the pilot training, the 2d AIC eventually developed specialist schools in Aerial Observation, Radio, Photography and Aerial Gunnery. The training complexes at Issoudun Aerodrome (3d AIC) and Tours were the two largest training schools in France for Air Service pilots.

The first Air Service training class arrived at Tours on 15 August, and followed a detachment of United States Naval cadets that had completed their training at Tours a few days before. Like the Naval aviators, the Army fliers were allotted in groups to classes under French instructors. The rivalry between cadets was intense, for the honor at stake was that of being the first pilot of the Air Service to be breveted in France. It was finally shared between two, Oscar G. Gude and J. W. Watts, later 1st Lieutenants, who completed their training on 11 September 1917. The first class was succeeded by the second, third and fourth classes, largely recruited from Americans who had volunteered prior to the United States entry in the war and were serving with the French forces. They were, in turn, followed by classes of cadets which arrived from the United States.