Mourmelon-le-Grand Airfield

Mourmelon-le-Grand Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield in France. It lies approximately 1 mile (2 km) east-southeast of Mourmelon-le-Grand and 93 miles (150 km) northeast of Paris.

Mourmelon-le-Grand
Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) A-80
Champagne-Ardenne Region, France
Mourmelon-le-Grand Airfield
Coordinates49°06′45″N 004°22′20″E
TypeMilitary airfield
Site information
Controlled byUnited States Army Air Forces
Site history
Built byIX Engineering Command
In useSeptember 1944 – July 1945
MaterialsPierces Steel Planking (PSP)
Battles/warsWestern Front (World War II)
Northern France Campaign

The airfield was a semi-permanent facility built by the USAAF in the Champagne region west of Monte Carnillet which was a fiercely contested region of the World War I Western Front. The 6000' (1830 m) Pierced Steel Planking runway of the airfield supported fighter and transport aircraft from September 1944 through the end of the war in Europe.

History

Known as Advanced Landing Ground "A-80", the airfield consisted of a single 6000' PSP runway aligned 08/26. Tents were used for billeting and for support facilities; an access road was built to the existing road infrastructure; there was a staging area for supplies, ammunition, and gasoline drums. There were a water-treatment facility and a minimal electrical grid for communications and station lighting.[1]

Combat units stationed at the airfield were:[2]

After the war ended the facility was dismantled and the land was turned over to local French authorities. Today the remains of the airfield can be seen in aerial photography as a disturbed area south of Mourmelon-le-Grand.[3]

See also

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

  1. IX Engineer Command ETO Airfields, Airfield Layout
  2. Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
  3. Johnson, David C. (1988), U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO), D-Day to V-E Day; Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.
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