Vitry-En-Artois Airport
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Vitry-En-Artois Airport Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) A-67 and B-50 |
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| Location | Vitry-En-Artois, France | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 174 ft / 53 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 50°20′15″N 002°59′30″E / 50.33750°N 2.99167°E | ||||||||||||||
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 LFQS
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Vitry-En-Artois Airport (ICAO: LFQS) is a regional airport in France, located 1 mile (1.6 km) northeast of Vitry-en-Artois; 105 miles (169 km) north-northeast of Paris. It supports general aviation with no commercial airline service scheduled.
It was an established airport built prior to World War II. Seized by the Germans in June 1940 during the Battle of France, it was used as a Luftwaffe military airfield during the occupation. Captured by the Allies in late 1944, it was used as an Allied military airfield until the end of the war.
A small grass airport prior to World War II, it was seized by the Germans in late May 1940. After its capture, Vitry-En-Artois was used by the Luftwaffe as combat airfield during the Battle of France. As part of the Blitzkrieg, the Germans assigned the following units to the airfield during the battle, carrying out air attacks on the defending French and British Expeditionary Force:
After the Second Armistice at Compiègne on 22 June, the Luftwaffe moved Kampfgeschwader 53 (KG 53) to the airfield on 12 July. KG 53 was a Heinkel He 111 medium bomber unit that participated in the ensuing Battle of Britain, remaining assigned to Vitry until 18 June 1941.
Later in 1941, the Germans improved the facility into a permanent Luftwaffe air base by expanding the support area with numerous maintenance shops, hangars, and laying down two 1500m concrete all-weather runways, aligned 03/21 and 09/27 (A possible third runway, aligned 13/31 is visible in aerial photography, only part of the 13 (northwest) end still remains). Numerous taxiways and dispersal aircraft parking areas were also constructed. As Vitry is located in the Pas-de-Calais, it was believed by the Germans that when the Americans and British tried to land in France to open a Second Front, the airfield would have a key role in the defense of France.
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