Roye-Amy (A-73)

49°39'32"N 002°49'16"E

Runway: 05/23 - 1700m - concrete (CLOSED)
Runway: 10/28 - 1900m - concrete (CLOSED)
Runway: 14/32 - 1500m - concrete (CLOSED)

Roye-Amy air field (french: aerodrome de Roye-Amy or Base Aérienne Roye-Amy, also known as Advanced Landing Ground A-73 Roye-Amy) was a pre-World War II civilian airfield, likely with some support buildings, a hangar and grass runways.
From September 24, 1939 until 19 May 1940 the RAF 57th BEF group used the airfield for Briston Blenheim I fast bombers, where they suffered heavy losses. The airfield was seized by the Germans during the Battle of France.
It was not used by the Luftwaffe until May 1941, when Kampfgeschwader 1 (KG 1) was assigned to the airfield with Junkers Ju 88 medium bombers, which carried out night attacks on England until June. During the occupation, the Germans constructed three concrete all weather runways. During the expansion of the airbase the Germans expelled the villagers of nearby Amy and Crapeaumesnil to protect themselves from possible spies. In addition to the construction of runways, they built aircraft parking areas, hangars and bunkers.
In March 1944, Roye-Amy became a day interceptor airfield which housed FW190A fighters of Schnellkampfgeschwader 10 (SKG10) to attack the USAAF Eighth Air Force heavy bomber fleets attacking targets in Occupied Europe and Germany. Previously not attacked by Allied bombers, Roye-Amy now came under attack by Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauder medium bombers and P-47 Thunderbolts, mostly with 500-pound General-Purpose bombs, unguided rockets and .50 caliber machine gun sweeps whenever Eighth Air Force heavy bombers (B-17s, B-24s) were within interception range of the Luftwaffe aircraft assigned to the base. The attacks were timed to have the maximum possible effect to keep the interceptors pinned down on the ground so they would be unable to attack the heavy bombers. P-51 Mustang fighter-escort groups of the Eighth Air Force would drop down on their return back to England and attack the base with a fighter sweep and attack any target of opportunity to be found at the airfield.
Unlike other Luftwaffe airfields in the area, Roye-Amy did not have any wooded areas in the vicinity to camouflage its aircraft servicing area or dispersement areas. The base was on flat, former agricultural fields and the Allied attacks caused considerable damage, destroying much of the base. From June 1944 until the fall of the base in September it was host to KG3 flying He111 bombers modified to carry air launched V1s

Reconnaissance photo of Roye-Amy airfield during the Second World War

American Ninth Army units moved through the area in early September 1944. On 6 September the IXth Engineer Command 862d Engineer Aviation Battalion arrived and began a quick rehabilitation of the base, so it could be used by American aircraft. It was declared operationally ready for Ninth Air Force combat units on 8 September, only a few days after its capture from German forces, and designated as Advanced Landing Ground "A-73 Roye/Amy Airfield". In addition to repairing the airfield, the 862EAB built a tent city for billeting and support facilities, an access road to the existing road infrastructure, a dump for supplies, ammunition and gasoline drums, facilities for drinkable water and a minimal electrical grid for communications and station lighting.
Over the next 11 months it hosted the following known units:
370th Fighter Group (370FG), between 11 and 26 September 1944, flying P-47 Thunderbolts
391st Bombardment Group (391BG), from 19 September 1944 until 16 April 1945, flying B-26 Marauders (572nd "P2", 573rd "T6", 574th "4L", 575th "O8" Bomb Squadrons).
349th Troop Carrier Group (349TCG), from April until 13 July 1945, flying C-47 Skytrains.
After the combat units moved out, Roye-Amy Airfield was closed and turned over to the French Air Ministry on 8 August 1945.


391 BG at Roye-Amy inspired somebody to make this nose-art style article, although it is misdated because the 391th did not make it to Roye-Amy intil a month later (geocaching.com). Does anybody know what it is, and why it was made and by who?

Under French control the base sat abandoned for several years. Many of the buildings at the base were destroyed during the war and although some had been repaired by the American combat engineers, most were in ruins. The French Air Ministry therefore leased the land, concrete runways, structures and all, out to farmers for agricultural use, after having sent in unexploded ordnance teams to remove the dangerous munitions. However, a post war aeronautical map (see below) and a french website suggest it remained in use as a civilian airfield for some time between 1945 and 1970. Although some small sheds capable of holding a small aircraft were existed at the airfield until ca 1960, no aircraft were seen in aerial photos made by IGN. 

Undated postwar airfield map of Roye-Amy airfield


Aerial photo of Roye-Amy in September 1947. Two things are worth noting: 1. There are NO aircraft or wrecks at the airfield, contrary to what Wikipedia claims. 2. The 14/32 runway was longer at some point, presumably during the use by the Americans. The southeast end had an extension of several hundred feet, as can be seen from the earth works (IGN, via Geoportail.fr)


The same airfield photographed by IGN in April 1955. Again, there is no sight of any aircraft, wrecks or otherwise (IGN, via Geoportail.fr)

Around 1963 most of the concrete and structures of the former airfield were removed, and the land was returned for agriculture. If you know what to look for, faint outlines of the runways can still be seen in aerial photography. Also the remains of the technical support site, to the north of the airfield, can be indirectly seen from disturbances in the fields which indicate the outlines of some large buildings, probably hangars. The airfield was extensively bombed, and the craters left by the attacks were filled in, but are still evident on the landscape.


I could not find when the work began, but when this photo was shot on 3 March 1963, most of the airfield had already disappeared. The lines that remained visible when this photo was shot, can be traced in the landscape to this day (IGN, via Geoportail.fr).

The area today, with the runways and taxiways (in red) and dispersal areas (in yellow)