Cricqueville Airfield

Cricqueville Airfield (A-2)
Basse-Normandie Region, France Cricqueville Airfield Cricqueville Airfield (France)
Type	Military airfield
Coordinates	49°22′05″N 001°00′22″W / 49.36806°N 1.00611°W / 49.36806; -1.00611
Built by	IX Engineering Command
Construction materials	Square-Mesh Track (SMT)
In use	June-September 1944
Controlled by	United States Army Air Forces
Battles/wars	Western Front (World War II)   Normandy Campaign   Northern France Campaign

Cricqueville Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield, which is located near the commune of Cricqueville-en-Bessin in the Basse-Normandie region of northern France.

Located just outside of Cricqueville-en-Bessin, the United States Army Air Force established a temporary airfield shortly after D-Day on 10 June 1944, shortly after the Allied landings in France The airfield was one of the first established in the liberated area of Normandy, being constructed by the IX Engineer Command, 820th Engineer Aviation Battalion.

History

Known as Advanced Landing Ground "A-2", the airfield consisted of a single 5000' (1500m) Square-Mesh Track/Compressed Earth runway aligned 17/35. In addition, with 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 a drinkable water and minimal electrical grid for communications and station lighting.^[1]

Combat units stationed at the airfield were the 354th Fighter Group, which based P-51 Mustang fighters at Cricqueville from 22 June though 13 August 1944, and the 367th Fighter Group, which based P-38 Lightning fighters at the airfield from 14 August though 4 September 1944.^[2]

The fighter planes flew support missions during the Allied invasion of Normandy, patrolling roads in front of the beachhead; strafing German military vehicles and dropping bombs on gun emplacements, anti-aircraft artillery and concentrations of German troops in Normandy and Brittany when spotted.

After the Americans moved east into Central France with the advancing Allied Armies, the airfield was closed on 15 September 1944. Today the airfield is indistinguishable from the agricultural fields in the area.^[3]

See also

	United States Air Force portal
	Military of the United States portal
	World War II portal

• Advanced Landing Ground

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

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.

External links