Cherbourg – Maupertus Airport Explained

Cherbourg – Maupertus Airport
Iata:CER
Icao:LFRC
Type:Public
Operator:SNC-Lavalin France
City-Served:Cherbourg-en-Cotentin
Location:Maupertus-sur-Mer
Elevation-F:459
Elevation-M:140
Website:cherbourg.aeroport.fr
Coordinates:49.6508°N -1.4753°W
Pushpin Map:France
Pushpin Mapsize:250
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of Cherbourg – Maupertus Airport
Pushpin Label:LFRC
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Metric-Rwy:y
R1-Number:10/28
R1-Length-M:2,440
R1-Length-F:8,005
R1-Surface:Asphalt
Footnotes:Source: French AIP

For the military use of this facility, see: Maupertus-sur-Mer AirfieldCherbourg – Maupertus Airport or Aéroport de Cherbourg - Maupertus is an airport located 11 km east of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, between Maupertus-sur-Mer and Gonneville. These are all communes of the Manche département in the Normandy région of France. The airport is managed by SNC-Lavalin Airports (subsidiary of the large Canadian engineering firm SNC-Lavalin) since 1 October 2009.

It has one runway, Runway 10/28. It is 2440 metres long and is covered in asphalt. There are six bays, numbered N1 to N6. There are currently no scheduled flights operating to or from the airport. Until early 2008 there was one scheduled flight a day from Paris to Jersey via Cherbourg although this has now been withdrawn.

Charter flights occasionally operate to and from the airport.

Airlines and destinations

No destinations served at present, as Twin Jet dropped services to Jersey and Paris Orly followed by Chalair and also Airlinair (who had taken over the service to Paris), which both failed to make links to Paris profitable.

History

The airport was first built in 1937 as a French Air Force military airfield. It was captured and used by the German Luftwaffe during the Occupation of France, and seized by the United States Army on 27 June 1944 during the liberation of the Cherbourg area. It was used as a fighter and bomber airfield by the United States Army Air Forces in 1944. After the Americans moved east into Central France with the advancing Allied Armies, the airfield was used as a resupply and casualty evacuation airfield for several months, before being closed on 22 December 1944. It was then turned over to French authorities.[1]

75th D-Day Commemorations

June 2019 saw the airport being used for the temporary basing of C-47 Skytrain/Dakota, DC-3, USAF MC-130J & C-130's for the 75th D-Day Commemorative air drops.[2] [3]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Johnson, David C. (1988), U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO), D-Day to V-E Day; Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.
  2. Web site: Total Force C-130s further prepare for D-Day 75. 17 June 2019.
  3. Web site: Normandy Dispatch: Free Fall Jump with American Special Operators Final Normandy Dispatch: Free Fall Jump with American Special Operators. 17 June 2019.