Airfield in the region of Rouen, June 2nd, 1944

[Mieszko]

Hello Everyone,

This is a long shot, however on the night of June 2nd 1944, two De Havilland Mosquitoes from 305 Sqn. attacked German airfields in the region of Rouen, France. From the combat report for this night one aircraft claimed to have attacked the "Poix Airfield" while the other just claimed "targed attacked".
Both aircraft departed Lasham Airfield at 23:10 and returned by 01:20.

Does someone perhaps know if any one of these two aircraft caused any damage to an airfield in the region of Rouen?

Thanks for you help,
Mieszko

[Larry deZeng]

Poix/Nord

24 May 44: bombed by 58 B-24s.

That was the last air attack on Poix airfield that might have caused any damage. By then, Poix was pretty beat up and had been prepared for demolition on 10 May. It played almost no role after 1 June 1944. A raid by 2 Mosquitoes was too insignificant to merit attention in the German reports, as it was considered harassment rather than an attack. It had a satellite by the name of Poix-Moyencourt that was 6 km SE of Poix airfield. This was an old deactivated landing ground that was rehabilitated in May 1944 but received little use.

L.

[Mieszko]

Hello Larry,
Thank you for your answer! I wasn't expecting such a quick response.

To quote the combat report the first aircraft "dropped bombs on lighted airfield Poix from 1000ft. No anti-aircraft fire noticed".

I would guess that both aircraft probably bombed the main airfield in Poix.

Thanks once again for your responce.

Take care,
Mieszko

[Mieszko]

Hello everyone,

After doing some further digging, I was able to find that the original target for these two Mosquitoes was Roye-Amy Airfield south of Roye, France by the village of Amy. The first Mosquito was unable to locate the original target, and instead attacked the “Poix Airfield”. The second Mosquito was able to find the target, and just claimed “target attacked”.

From the internet I have:

“In March 1944, Roye-Amy became a day interceptor airfield which housed FW190A fighters of Schnellkampfgeschwader 10 (SKG10)”

“From June 1944 until the fall of the base in September it was host to KG3 flying He111 bombers modified to carry air launched V1s”.

So to rephrase my original question and taking into account Larry’s answer:

On the night of June 2nd 1944, two De Havilland Mosquitoes from No. 305 Sqn. Set out to attack the Roye-Amy Airfield. One of the Mosquitoes claimed to have attacked the Roye-Amy Airfield. Both aircraft departed Lasham Airfield at 23:10 and returned by 01:20.

Does someone perhaps know if any damage was incurred and noted at the Roye-Amy Airfield?

Thank you,
Mieszko

[Larry deZeng]

Some information on Roye-Amy. As you can see under Remarks, there is no mention on a 2 June 1944 intruder attack. It is somewhat doubtful whether a single Mossie bombing an airfield at night could cause enough damage to warrant a German airfield damage report. Mosquitoes dropped a few bombs on 6 or 7 different airfields in France just about every night during 1943 and 1944. They were night harassment or nuisance missions aimed mainly at keeping the Germans from getting a good night's sleep rather than a serious attempt to do damage.


Roye-Amy (FR) (a.k.a. Beuvraignes) (49 39 15 N – 02 48 15 E)
General: airfield in NE France 44 km SE of Amiens, 5 km SSE of Roye and immediately W of Amy.
History: extensively developed by the Luftwaffe as a bomber base but not used until Mar 41. Very little use after Jun 41, although construction work continued into 1944. Reports stated that the clay soil underneath the runways was settling and even collapsing in places and taking the runway concrete with it.
Dimensions: approx. 1465 x 870 meters (1600 x 950 yards) and roughly rectangular in shape.
Surface and Runways: grass surface. Had 3 independent concrete runways – (1) approx. 1800 meters (1970 yards) aligned E/W and located 365 meters S of the main landing area; (2) approx. 1675 meters (1830 yards) aligned NE/SW and located to the E of the main landing area; (3) approx. 1620 meters (1770 yards) aligned NW/SE and located to the SE of the main landing area. The NW/SE runway had an assembly hardstand at one end. Equipped with perimeter lighting, runway illumination, permanent flare-path, a beam approach system and visual Lorenz systems for the runways.
Fuel and Ammunition: fuel storage was on the S boundary, in the South dispersal area and in a woods on the E side of the road running S from Amy. The bomb dump was in a woods off the S boundary.
Infrastructure: had 1 small repair hangar in the East dispersal area. All station offices and most accommodations were in the villages of Crapeaumesnil and Amy which reportedly were completely taken over by the Luftwaffe. Other personnel were billeted in Fresnières, 4 km to the S, and base supplies were stored in Beuvraignes, 4.25 km WSW of Amy. The nearest rail connection was in Beuvraignes where a light rail branch run directly to the airfield.
Dispersal: the 2 dispersal areas – South and East – had a total of 59 aircraft shelters.
Defenses: protected by 2 heavy and 7 light Flak positions surrounding the airfield in Dec 43. The ground defenses consisted to numerous strongpoints and machine gun emplacements with interconnecting trench systems with liberal use of barbed wire entanglements.
Satellites and Decoys:
Roye-Villiers (49 42 35 N – 02 45 00 E), decoy 5.25 km NNW of Roye-Amy airfield. A former French civil airport. Outfitted with painted runways. Landing area obstructed by rough plowing.
Remarks:
7 Sep 43: all 3 runways seen to be temporarily obstructed with portable obstacles and logs.
26 Nov 43: bombed by 9th AAF medium bombers – bursts observed on the E/W and NW/SE runways.
31 Dec 43: obstructions on runways and landing area believed to have been removed and the craters on the E/W runway repaired; the NW/SE runway is still unserviceable due to craters.
31 Jan 44: obstructions removed from all 3 runways and prepared strips were being leveled on both sides of each.
3 Mar 44: bombed by 9th AAF medium bombers – serviceability of runways and landing area not affected.
27 Apr 44: dive-bombed by 52 P-38 Lightnings carrying 1,000 lb. bombs to break up the concrete runways.
1 May 44: bombed by 18 B-17 Fortresses as a target of opportunity.
18 Aug 44: bombed by 43 B-24 Liberators.
22 Aug 44: low-level attack by 9th AAF – claimed 10 aircraft destroyed on the ground.
Operational Units: III./KG 1 (Mar-Jun 41); I./SKG 10 (Mar-May 44).
Station Commands: Fl.H.Kdtr. E 23/VI (Sep 40 – Jul 42); Fl.Pl.Kdo. A 36/XI (1943 – Mar 44); Flugplatzkdo. Amy of Fl.H.Kdtr. E(v) 223/XI (Montdidier) (Apr-Aug 44).
Station Units (on various dates – not complete): all or part of 142. Flugh.Betr.Kp. (Qu) (May 44 - ?).
[Sources: AFHRA A5260 pp.2302-11 (18 Aug 43 updated to 6 Mar 44); chronologies; BA-MA; NARA; PRO/NA; web site ww2.dk]

[Mieszko]

Larry,

Thank you for your quick responce, once again!

Take care,
Mieszko