Mitry-Mory airfield, France June 1940.

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo all,

Could anyone please tell me what units of Armee de l'Air - especially bomber units - occupied this airfield north-east of Paris during early June 1940.

Also what date in June was it captured by the Germans ?

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.

[CJE]

Martin,

AFAIK, no French units were ever based at Mitry-Mory.

However, this village is close to Claye-Souilly airfield, where GB I/62 (Martin 167Fs) was based from 11 May till 18 May.
Part of GB II/31 (LeO 451s) landed there on 18 May.
GB I/31 (LeO 451s) arrived on 19 May, together with 4 LeOs of GB I/12.
Both I/31 and II/31 left on 21 May.

Since Paris fell on 14 June and German troops marched in from the North, I guess that this airfield was captured on the same day or the day before.

Incidentally, Mitry-Mory is also close to Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport.

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo CJE,

Many thanks for your reply. Please forgive my lack of knowledge of French airfields during 1940.

My question arose because of an entry in Peter Cornwell's 'The Battle of France, Then and Now'. An RAF Fairey Battle of No. 88 Squadron (serial number unknown) force-landed "on Mitry-Mory airfield" on 12 June 1940.

Was there ever an airfield near the town of Mitry-Mory in 1940 ? Or was the Claye-Souilly airfield the nearest to the town of Mitry-Mory in June 1940 ?

By the way I landed at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle in 2007 and was lucky to see the prototype Airbus A380. I had not realized that GDG was so close to Mitry-Mory.

Regards,

Martin.