{"id":4395,"date":"2019-03-11T13:37:49","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T18:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/?page_id=4395"},"modified":"2022-09-23T12:22:06","modified_gmt":"2022-09-23T17:22:06","slug":"la-vallon-airfield-france","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/places\/la-vallon-airfield-france\/","title":{"rendered":"La Vallon Airfield, France"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Control<\/a>
Control Tower La Vallon Airfield, 1944-45<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This airfield in Southern France was built by the U.S. Army Engineers in 1944 and was used by the 417th Night Fighter Squadron from September, 1944, through April 5, 1945.<\/p>\n

After leaving the field, it was abandoned, and the land was later returned to its original agricultural use.<\/p>\n

\"During<\/a>
During March, 1945, Tom was based with his squadron at La Vallon Army Airfield, 225 miles north of Marseilles, in southern France.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From Wikipedia:<\/a><\/p>\n

La Vallon Airfield<\/b>\u00a0is an abandoned\u00a0World War II<\/a>\u00a0military airfield in\u00a0France<\/a>, which is located approximately 6\u00a0km north-northeast of\u00a0Montbrison<\/a>\u00a0(Loire<\/a>\u00a0department,\u00a0Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes<\/a>); about 385\u00a0km south-southeast of\u00a0Paris<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Tent<\/a>
Tent city at La Vallon Airfield in 1944<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

La Vallon was an all-weather temporary sod airfield built by\u00a0USAAF\u00a0XII Engineer Command. The runway was 7,800 feet (2,400\u00a0m) in length, 300 feet (91\u00a0m) wide, and aligned 13\/31. The airfield was equipped with 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. Tents were used for billeting and also for support facilities.<\/em><\/p>\n

Designated as an\u00a0Advanced Landing Ground<\/a>\u00a0Y-18<\/b>\u00a0it was turned over to the\u00a0United States Army Air Force<\/a>\u00a0Twelfth Air Force<\/a>\u00a0on 30 August 1944. The\u00a0417th Night Fighter Squadron<\/a>\u00a0used the airfield 12 September 1944 \u2013 5 April 1945, flying\u00a0Bristol Beaufighters<\/a>. In addition, the\u00a0415th Night Fighter Squadron<\/a>\u00a0flew Bristol Beaufighters from the airfield 1\u201325 September 1944.<\/em><\/p>\n

When the Americans pulled out in April 1945, the airfield was dismantled by engineers and returned to agriculture. An outline of the airfield remains as agricultural fields in aerial photos today.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"La<\/a>
La Vallon Mess Hall, 1944<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This airfield in Southern France was built by the U.S. Army Engineers in 1944 and was used by the 417th Night Fighter Squadron from September, 1944, through April 5, 1945. After leaving the field, it was abandoned, and the land was later returned to its original agricultural use. From Wikipedia: La Vallon Airfield\u00a0is an abandoned\u00a0World … Continue reading La Vallon Airfield, France<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":52,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4395","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4395"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4807,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4395\/revisions\/4807"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/52"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}