French airfields around Lille

[gwdsoldat]

My friend & I are investigating the crash of Heinkell He111 A1+LN that came down in Shropshire on 16th November 1940, having taken off from Lille/Vendeville. We are now particularly interested in obtaining any information & pictures of the airfields around Lille during their use by the Luftwaffe- please can anyone help?

[Larry deZeng]

Try:

http://www.ww2.dk/Airfields%20-%20France.pdf

[gwdsoldat]

Thanks for the suggestion. I have found on the excellent web site that II & III Gruppe of KG53 were based at Lille Nord from July 1940 (to June 1941 for II Gruppe, & February 1941 for III Gruppe). In these records, there is no reference to KG53 at Lille Vendeville during this time. In addition I read a magazine article about the shooting down of Heinkel He111 H-2 of 5./KG53 on 30 August 1940, & it states that it flew from Lille Nord.


However, I understand that a aircraft I am interested in- Heinkel He111 A1+LN of II Gruppe KG53 5th Staffel- flew from Lille Vendeville in November 1940 - & also pictures exist that seem to suggest that KG53 was at Vendeville too. Are you able to explain why KG53 is listed as based at Lille Nord- but appears to have been flying from Vendeville as well?

In the case of the crew of A1+LN we know that they were posted to 7. Staffel III Gruppe KG53 (presumeably based at Lille Nord or Vendeville?) on 4th October 1940, & then on 11th November they were posted to the operational unit- 5. Staffel, II Gruppe KG53- which we think was at Vendeville. Any information or thoughts would be really appreciated.

[Larry deZeng]

gwdsoldat,

Did you try the KG 53 unit history?

Kiehl, Heinz. Kampfgeschwader “Legion Condor” 53": Eine Chronik – Berichte, Erlebnisse, Dokumente, 1936-1945. Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag, 1983. ISBN: 3-87943-947-8. Hb. Dj. 388p. Illus. Maps. Appendices. Bibliography. Names index.

L.

[Chris Goss]

According to some digging I did a number of years ago, as of Nov 40:

Stab/KG 53 Lille Nord
I/KG 53 Vitry-en-Artois
II/KG 53 Lille Vendeville
III/KG 53 Lille Mouvaux

Stab, I & II/KG 53 were still there in Jan 41 but in March, II/KG 53 was in Lille Nord but moved back to Vendeville for April 41.

As to why they moved, it could be simply that the airfield became unusable for a time due to Winter weather