45°55'53"N 000°59'44"W
runway: 11/29 - 900x30m - asphalt
Rochefort-Soubise air field (French: Aérodrome de Rochefort-Soubise, also known as Base aéronavale de Rochefort-Soubise, ICAO: LFXR) was an airfield 410 kilometers southwest of Paris.
The airfield was built between 1916 and 1917 as an airship station for the Aeronavale. The use of airships over land was deemed too dangerous by that time, but they were
still considered (in french) suitable for patrol work over the sea. Therefore all remaining French airships (about a dozen) were transferred to the Marine (French Navy). The airships included the "Chalais Meudon", "Montgolfier", "Fleurus", "Tunisie", "Capitaine Caussin", "Champagne" and "Lorraine". French manufacturers supplied the Navy with more than 40 new airships between 1917 and 1918 (17 Astra-Torres-class, 6 Chalais-Meudon-class and 20 Zodiac-class). On 1 July 1918 Rochefort became the Centre-École d'Aérostation Maritime de (Central School for Maritime Airships) Rochefort.
After the World War I armistice, the Aeronavale was cut back to only 11 percent of its early 1918 strength. Along with Cherbourg, Frejus and a few other stations, Rochefort-Soubise was kept open. The airship school was renamed the Centre-École d'Aéronautique Maritime de (Central School for Maritime Aeronautics) Rochefort on 2 March 1923. On 5 January 1926 the Aéro Club Charentais was formed at the naval air station. The school was renamed again on 25 May 1926 into Centre d'Instruction de l'Aéronautique Maritime de (Instruction Center for Maritime Aeronautics) Rochefort-Soubise. In the 1930s the base was renamed three times.
The name Centre-École d'Aéronautique Maritime de Rochefort returned to the school on 31 July 1931. It remained so only briefly, before it was renamed Base d'Aéronautique Maritime (Maritime Aeronautics Base) de Rochefort on 22 April 1932. The École des Apprentis Mécaniciens de l'Armée de l'Air (Air Force Apprentice Engineer School) was created at Rochefort in 1932. Finally, on 6 April 1937, the airfield became known as Base d'Aéronautique Navale (Naval Aeronautics Base) de Rochefort. It kept that name until France entered World War II.
Breguet 19s of GR 1 and Potez 25s of GR 5 at Rochefort on 23 June 1930, while en route to Cazaux. The large wall
On 1 Junuary 1948 the airfield became known as the Section Marine de la Base-École de l'Air (Navy Section of Air Base-School) de Rochefort. It was co-located with the Centre École de l'Aéronautique Navale (CEAN, the Central School of Naval Aeronautics), located in turn at the Base Aéro-Navale (BAN, Naval Air Base) in Rochefort.
By the early 1960s, development of newer, more effective techniques gave the school an aged and messy look. In 1969 the Department of Defense announced the planned move of the school to Evreux. The department of Charente-Maritime, led in particular by Albert Bignon, ultimately succeeded to overturn the decision. The school would remain in Charente-Maritime, but had to find a new location and soon. Before a site was chosen, the Air Force added the requirement for a 1700x30 meter runway on the same site. In 1979, the Air Force Apprentice Engineer School moved to Base Aérienne 721, further south of Rochefort.
Rochefort-Soubise in 1950 showed a large number of aircraft on the platform, including what appeared to be 3 B-17 bombers (IGN).
Rochefort-Soubise in 1957 showed at least 61 aircraft of different types on the platforms and parkings (IGN)
Rochefort-Soubise in 1971 showing amonst others, Noratlas transports and Lockeed Neptunes (IGN)
The airfield in 1977, still showing a healthy amount of aircraft, with 2 Neptunes, 3 Noratlas and a C-160 Transall (IGN)
Around 1980 the airfield received an asphalt runway, replacing the old grass runway. NAVCO, a Naval Helicopter School was also located at the airfield. They trained Iraqi military pilots to fly the Aerospatiale Dauphin in 1984 and 1984.
From 1985 the airfield held an 'ab initio' naval training squadron, 51S, equipped with Cap-10B and MS-880 Rallye as primary trainers. The squadron was disbanded on 9 September 1996.
Only the Musée de l'Aéronautique Navale(in french)) is still occupying hangars at the former airfield. The rest of the base is utilised by the Ecole de Gendarmerie (Police School).
1987 - EIP 51S (Ecole d'Initiation au Pilotage en Escadrille 51S), promotion of class 86 Fox (copainsdavant.com).
The closed airfield in 2005. The runway displays large X-markings to indicate the airfield is closed, in spite of the presence of aircraft on the platform, those belong to the museum (Google Earth/IGN).
Rochefort-Soubise 
Rochefort-Soubise