Roye-Amy Airfield is an abandoned

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

military airfield which is located approximately 5 km south-southeast of Roye, approximately 98 km north-northeast of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. Originally a 1930s airport which was seized by the Germans during the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...

, it was used by the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...

, then by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during

. After the war, the site was abandoned and is now agricultural fields.

History

Roye-Amy was a pre-

airport, with some support buildings, a hangar and grass runways. From September 24, 1939 until 19 May 1940 the RAF 57th BEF group used the airfield for Bristol Blenheim I bombers, where they suffered heavy losses.

German use during World War II

The airfield was seized by the Germans during the

. It was not used by the

until May 1941, when Kampfgeschwader 1 (KG 1) was assigned with

Junkers Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a Nazi Germany, German World War II ''Luftwaffe'' twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers, Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called ''Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") th ...

medium bombers, which carried out night attacks on

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. The bombers remained until June when they were withdrawn. The Luftwaffe, 1933-45
/ref> During the occupation, the Germans constructed two 1700m concrete, all-weather runways, aligned 05/23 and 10/28. Presumably, this was due to the fortification of the

Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...

, being 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. In March 1944, Roye-Amy became a day interceptor airfield which housed fighters to attack the USAAF

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces ...

heavy bomber fleets attacking targets in Occupied Europe and Germany. Schnellkampfgeschwader 10 (SKG 10) flew

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' ("Shrike") is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, th ...

As from 9 March until 13 May 1944. Previously not attacked by Allied bombers, Roye-Amy came under attack by

Ninth Air Force The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint De ...

B-26 Marauder The Martin B-26 Marauder is an American twin-engined medium bomber that saw extensive service during World War II. The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska, by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in ...

medium bombers and

P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...

s mostly with 500-pound General-Purpose bombs; unguided rockets and .50 caliber machine gun sweeps when

heavy bombers (

B-17 The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theate ...

B-24 The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models d ...

s) were within interception range of the Luftwaffe aircraft assigned to the base. The attacks were timed to have the maximum effect possible to keep the interceptors pinned down on the ground and be unable to attack the heavy bombers. Also, the

P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...

fighter-escort groups of

would drop down on their return to England and attack the base with a fighter sweep and attack any target of opportunity to be found at the airfield. Unlike other Luftwaffe airfields in the area, Roye-Amy did not have any wooded areas in the vicinity for camouflage its aircraft servicing area or dispersement areas. The base was on flat, former agricultural fields and the Allied attacks caused considerable damage, destroying much of the base.

American use

American Ninth Army units moved through the area in early September 1944. On 6 September The IX Engineer Command 862d Engineer Aviation Battalion moved in and began a quick rehabilitation of the base so it could be used by American aircraft. It was declared operationally ready for

combat units on 8 September, only a few days after its capture from German forces, being designated as Advanced Landing Ground "A-73 Roye/Amy Airfield" In addition to the airfield, tents were used for billeting and also for support facilities; an access road was built to the existing road infrastructure; a dump for supplies, ammunition, and gasoline drums, along with drinkable water and minimal electrical grid for communications and station lighting. It hosted the following known units: *

370th Fighter Group The 370th Fighter Group was a unit of the Ninth Air Force that was located in the European Theater of Operations during World War II.Maurer, Maurer. ''Air Force Combat Units Of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 198 ...

, 11–26 September 1944 P-38 Lightning *

391st Bombardment Group 391st may refer to: * 391st Bombardment Group, non-flying unit of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, stationed at Horsham Air National Guard Station *391st Bombardment Squadron, part of the 6th Air Mobility Wing at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida ...

, 19 September 1944 – 16 April 1945

* 349th Troop Carrier Group, April-18 to July 15, 1945

C-46 Commando The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a twin-engine transport aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurised high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company pub ...

History of the 349th Troop Carrier Group, 1995 edited by Judson F. Sandlin When the combat units moved out, Roye-Amy Airfield was closed and turned over to the French Air Ministry on 8 August 1945.

Postwar

In French control after the war, the airport sat abandoned for several years. There was much unexploded ordnance at the site which needed to be removed, as well as the wreckage of German and American aircraft. Many of the buildings at the base were destroyed by the war, and although some had been repaired by the American combat engineers, most were in ruins. There was no use for the prewar airport, and as a result, the Air Ministry sold the land, concrete runways, structures and all, out to farmers for agricultural use, sending in unexploded ordnance teams to remove the dangerous munitions. Today all of the concrete and structures of the former airport and wartime airfield have been removed, and the land used by agriculture. Faint outlines of the runways can be seen in aerial photography. Also, the remains of the technical support site, to the north of the airfield can be indirectly seen from the disturbances in the fields which indicate the outlines of some large buildings, probably hangars. The airfield was extensively bombed, and the craters left by the attacks were filled in, but are still evident on the landscape.

References

External links