Bapaume-Grévillers

50°06'18"N 002°47'04"E

Runway:  19/01 - 1500x80m - concrete
Runway:  28/10 - 1200x45m - concrete

Bapaume-Grévillers aerodrome (also known as Irles-Grévillers aerodrome) was an airfield 145 kilometer north of Paris.
The airfield was established in 1940 on land requisitioned for the British Expeditionary Forces. After the invasion the Germans designed and built two paved runways. A taxiway connected the ends of the runways and many dispersals. In 1941 8/KG1 was operating from the airfieldr in Ju.88s.


1946 map of the airfield (Archives départementales du Pas-de-Calais, 2962 W 46, via wikipasdecalais.fr).


The airfield in 1947 left by the Germans after World War 2 (IGN, via geoportail.fr)

After the war, no lands were acquired by the French government, although part of the infrastructure left by the Germans was considered for an airfield for light aviation in the Pas-de-Calais department. A plan drafted in the early fifties suggested to return unpaved remote areas back to agriculture, but to retain 600m on the north end of the north-south runway and half of its intersecting east/west runway. The proximity of the nearby aibase Cambrai-Epinoy prevented its use however and so the decision was made in May 1956 to scrap the airfield from the General Aviation plans of the region. The airfield was subsequently nearly completely destroyed and returned to agriculture. Most of the taxitracks still exist however, they are in use as local roads for farming equipment.


Composite photo of the airfield in 1963. Runways and taxiways were abandoned no longer fit for use. (IGN, via geoportail.fr)


Photo of the airfield in 1971. Most of the runways and taxiways have large parts missing. (IGN, via geoportail.fr)


Photo of the airfield in 2004. Some small parts of the former airfields are still visible.  (Google Earth)


Composite photo of the airfield in2004 with (in black) the location of the airfield infrastructure.

Rersearch by Olivier for Ronald.