Verdun Aerodrome


, in the Meuse department, is a small city on the river Meuse, which had been heavily fortified before WW1 started. A military airfield was created in 1912 out of the eastern part of the city, in a place called "Faubourg Pavé" ; yet navigation charts did not mention the airfield, but three different military grounds elsewhere in Verdun, with a projected new airfield north of the city, at Charny.
From the beginning of the war until the outbreak of the Battle of Verdun, in February 1916, the Faubourg Pavé airfield was widely used by the French Air Service. As the battle developed, many airfields were built further away from the front line and "Faubourg Pavé" had to be abandoned.
In 1918, many American Air Service squadrons flew from airfields around Verdun, as Julvécourt, Souilly, Lemmes or Béthelainville. Sources also mention temporary detachment of the 95th Aero Squadron to a "Verdun" airfield, without any further details, which could probably mean any of those airfields as it stayed there for a rather long time; 27th, for itself, stayed only a few days, 7–11 November, which could be any of those airfields, or a now-forgotten temporary airstrip... As the front line moved eastwards away from Verdun during the last weeks of the war, wa can also imagine aircraft landing back at "Faubourg Pavé"...

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