Le Touquet Airfield Today

[Jon]

Hello,
Soon i am off to visit some relatives buried on the Somme Battlefields. Obviously whilst i am in this area of France i will also be around many famous WW2 airfields and sites. Le Touquet airfield is only 15 miles from where i am staying, has this anything of its WW2 history still about that will be worth a visit?
Also can any of our French members recommend good WW2 aviation sites in the Somme area, museums, airfields crash sites etc...
Thanks

Jon

[Von Alles]

hello,
As far I know, the Le Touquet airport as no remains of his glory in WW2.
But it is a very charming place, in fact because, in my opinion, it is ...so british !
it is not possible to go upstairs on the terrace to photograph the planes, but you have fine views from the parking or the bar terrace, with a beautiful background.
I recommend the restaurant.
In France, one of my favorites, not for the planes but for the landscape.
All the best
Von Alles

[theflyingbus]

Good afternoon sir

I am a commercial pilot and instructor on light aircraft, Le Touquet is an airport I have visited on many occasions. I have never seen any sign of its history. It is currently a general aviation airfield very popular with the British, mainly because of its proximity to the uk. At 100 knots it is about an hour from north london and to go to another country seems more impressive than going to another uk airfield. All the same a nice town, still worth a visit, safe trip!

joe

[Disbos]

Hello, Amiens jail is well worth a look. It is on the road from Albert to Amiens (followed by the Operation Jericho Mosquitos) on the right hand side as you enter Amiens. The repaired walls are clearly visible from the road along with a small memorial. There is a civilian cemetery next door where Pickard (apologies for not knowing his rank) and his navigator are buried side by side. Otherwise High Wood Cemetery has some Lancaster crews near the far end, there is a memorial in Fonquevillers to a crashed Halifax which includes an engine and at Grevillers just outside Bapaume you can see concrete dispersal points just off the road.

[Jon]

Hi.

Thanks for all the answers, i am in France next week so will try to look them all up. Amiens jail is a definate, and i will be near High Wood Cemetry too.
Did the Germans bury the Lancaster crews in the WW1 cemetary during the war or were they found after 1945?

[Von Alles]

Hello again,
I know 3 military museums in this area.
1 in Ambleuteuse, north of Boulogne (old road to Calais), a museum about WW2 in a modern contruction : uniforms, various relics (I remember a Bf 109E rudder),
2 near by, the Musée du Mur de l'Atlantique in a massive bunker (Todt Battery), with a lot of military items, i.e. a big gun on rail ,
3 in Calais (city center), a WW2 museum in an underground bunker, I remember various airchaology pieces from Spitfire and Bf 109E (engines).
Have a good trip in this aera.

Von Alles