49°50'04"N 000°39'03"E
Runway: 07/25 - 1630x60m - concrete (CLOSED)
Runway: 07/25 - 900x50m - grass
Saint-valery-vittefleur airfield (also known to Americans as Lucky Strike Camp, ICAO: LFOS) is a smal airfield 160 kilometers northwest of Paris and 30 kilometers west of Dieppe.
The airfield was started in 1939 before World War II. At the time, it was located on the west side of the current airfield featuring a 1000m long runway running North/South.
After the Battle of France, the Germans began to rebuild and expand the airfield. Besides building hardened taxi tracks and dispersal areas, they also began construction of a single concrete runway. For the foundation they used rubble from the town of St. Valery-en-Caux. They also installed electrical lightning for night flying.
This photo was taken covertly and at great personal risk through a window at Château de Janville by mademoiselle De Sancy in 1940. The aircraft is a German Junkers W34 liaison and training aircraft. At this time. the hardened runway does not yet exist (
source).
Another photograph taken clandestinely from a window of Château de Janville in the summer 1940. The plane is a Bf-109E which probably belonged to I./JG2 'Richthofen'. The airfield was used by the German general staff during the battle of Britain (
source)
Aerial picture taken on June 18, 1940. On the left side, the valley of the Durdent River. In red is the location of the French airfield with 1000m runway oriented North-South, with to the north Château de Janville. In blue, the location of the future hardened runway (
source).
Aerial photo taken in September 22, 1941. The foundations of the 1630m hardened runway ('fondation de la piste en dur de 1630m') are in progress. The Germans use the rubble of the town of st valery en caux destroyed by bombing. 'aerodrome actuel' means the location of the present day airport (
source).
Photo taken 11 September 1942, the runway is now completely covered with concrete. To the North of the runway, a 88mm FLAK-battery can be recognised. In green the taxiways. The longest of them is finished, the one that goes south. It is 2km long. The aircraft dispersal in the North is almost completed. In blue, the resupply railway, which passes through the airfield and the park of the château de Janville (
source).
Aerial photo taken on 16 September 1943. Clearly visible is the Château de Janville, where Germans are quartered. The first two photos above were taken from this château. We see at the top the kommandantur with a swimming pool and bunker outside in a circle (
source).
Aerial photo taken on 16 September 1943. visible are batteries of FLAK and the house built by the Germans which to this day houses the flying club. North-east you can clearly see the aircraft dispersal and the taxiway a that goes to the Château of Anglesqueville (on the east side of the runway). In the end we see a piece of taxiway designed to join the Castle by the other side. The railway is in blue (
source).
Aerial photo taken on 16 September 1943. The taxiways near Château "Saint Riquier", which is 2KM to the South of the runway, are clearly visible, as are the parkings for aircraft. Around the castle we can see come walls protecting aircraft from strafing or blasts of bombs (
source).
Aerial photo taken on 6 July 1944. As the Allies approached, the Germans plowed the neighboring fields and mined the runway and
erected barriers to prevent any landing (
source).
Before their departure on 1 September 1944, German troops detonated mines on the main runway and taxitracks to render the base unusable by the Allies. Contrary to many other captured airfields, Saint Valery was not repared and used by the Allied air forces. Instead, it was converted into a large camp designated B-19 and designed as a staging area and able to house an eventual 100.000 soldiers. Camps like this were called 'Cigarette Camps', as they were named after popular cigarette brands. This camp, the biggest in the ETO, was named Lucky Strike. It was used as a transit camp, meaning that the troops never stayed for long. Lucky Strike opened in December 1944 and closed in February 1946. From 1 June 1945, it stood under control of the 89th Division, until this division was deactivated and returned to the United States in early December 1945. The camp was like a U.S. town with theaters, hospitals, a PX and gift shops, and it mainly consisted of more than 12,000 tents. At times, more than 100,000 U.S. servicemen stayed there. Most of the liberated American POW’s went through Lucky Strike on their way home to the United States. After the unconditional surrender of Germany, the camp was used to return troops to the USA via Le Havre.
A small part of camp Lucky Strike. A second runway is visible (in red), built by the Americans in PSP for fighters (spitfire, typhoon, mustangs). The yellow part was the German ammunition depot.
When the war was over and the GIs had returned to the US, the camp was quickly broken up. By September 1947, nothing remained of what had been the largest staging camp of the U.S. Army in Europe (source).
The airfield in September 1947. Clearly visible are the repaired holes caused by the deliberate destruction done by the retreating German troops in 1944 (IGN, via Géoportail).
The airport in April 1952. A communications board had been installed, but there are no aircraft visible in this photo (IGN, via Géoportail)
A photo of the airfield taken by IGN in 1957. By this time, runway markers (numbers, tresholds, center line) had been painted on the runway, giving the airport an approximately 1400m hardened runway (IGN, via Géoportail).
By 1973, the airfields infrastructure had changed considerably. A parallel, but shorter (grass) runway was laid out next to the hardened runway, which was at that time still in use. Also, the infrastructure for the flying club had expanded (IGN, via Géoportail).
In the mid-1970s the airfield almost had to close because of its proximity to a proposed nuclear power plant to the north. While the plant was built, the airfield remained open, as can be seen in this 1977 photo (IGN, via Géoportail).
Enlargement of above photo: the airport side of the airfield and the two runways: one hardened with concrete, the other one a grass runway (IGN, via Géopportail).
St.Valery-Vittefleur in May 1992. At the time, the concrete runway was still in use, as can be seen in this photo (IGN, via Géoportail)
Six years later (May 1998) the concrete runway was closed with a large white 'X', however (IGN, via Géoportail)
At the turn of the century the airfield, as it was built by the Germans, was still largely intact, a situation that has lasted until today. Even all the dispersals are still easily recognisable in this 2001 photo (IGN, via Géoportail)
The approach map for St. Valery-Vittefleur shows the airfield is only meters outside the restricted airspace surrounding the powerplant to the north. It also clearly marks the closed hardened runway (SIA)
Until not too long ago, the airfield had a proper (albeit empty) control tower, which was located on the platform above the offices behind the Fouga Magister. Notice the STOP sign. It is there to tell aircrew crossing the public road to and from the runway that cars have the right of way (photo kindly supplied by Caroline Fontana, © 2010)
Saint-Valery-Vittefleur 
Saint-Valery-Vittefleur