49°04'33"N 005°16'29"E
Runway: grass airfield
Vadelaincourt airfield (Aérodrome de Vadelaincourt) was a World War I airfield 210 kilometers east of Paris.
It was built in early 1916 along the road leading to Verdun. Annamese, Cochin, Cambodians and Tonkinese contributed to the development of the
airfield, which began in January 1916. The work advanced rapid enough to accommodate squadrons from Verdun Airfield for the clashes that were raging in February. For the first ten days, officers, staff, mechanics and pilots were billeted in the village, but soon "Bessonneaux" hangars were put up at a place called 'La Haute Maison' and the staff went to join their aircraft in their newly built shelters.
The airfield became a real small town: around the large hangars many quaint huts were set up with cloth and cement and decorated with English gardens.
1916 map of the airfield (vadelaincourt.info)
Ground view of Vadelaincourt airfield aroud 1918 (vadelaincourt.info)
Aerial photo of Vadelaincourt airfield (vadelaincourt.info)
Photo of the Bessonneaux hangars (vadelaincourt.info)
Assembly type hangars "Bessonneaux" (vadelaincourt.info)
Hangars after a German raid. (vadelaincourt.info)
Ca. 1917: a plane was shot just above Vadelaincourt. The first is on fire, and the second can be seen at the end of the smoke (black with white stripes plane). Both are photographed from a third plane flying above. (Source: Philippe Jubert, les amis du vieux montrichard)
Air activity of all these planes was pretty important day and night. There were many casualties on the fighting but also due to accidents,
either to carelessness on the part of pilots, or malfunctions of the planes.
Examples of accidents:
On July 12, 1916 at 17h, a Farman, suddenly appeared over the village. Suddenly, after a tumble, he crashed into a Bessonneaux hangar. The airmen were killed on the spot:they were the young pilots Nivart and Gilbert.
Spring of 1917, around 23h on a beautiful clear night, an aircraft of E.25 (25 squadron - bombing), piloted by Lieutenant Antoine and NCO Bricoux returned from mission over enemy lines to land at its starting point when it produced an explosion! A bomb which had remained hanging below the
fuselage had hit the ground at the time of landing and create the effect of an enemy torpedo. The two airmen were wounded in the legs: Lieutenant had to undergo the amputation of a leg, while pilot Bricoux was left with a simple fractured leg.
Hospital side with the big red cross in october 1916. (Source: Philippe Jubert, les amis du vieux montrichard)
On the airfield was a major hospital, as ordered by Mr. Georges Legros. A huge red cross in the center of a white circle was placed on the floor close to the hospital to prevent enemy bombers from destroying this neutral medical camp. This did not prevent the hospital from being copiously bombed!
Today, nothing remains about the former airfield.
(researched by Olivier)
Vadelaincourt 
Vadelaincourt