History

Aviation in Chalon sur Saône

In 1910 Chalon already had a small airfield, known as the Aerodrome, at a location known as the Prairie Sainte-Marie situated between the Saône and Avenue Monnot, where the exhibition ground and the swimming pool complex stand today.

Air events were becoming progressively more popular, and it was on 16 October 1910 that the first plane took flight in the Chalon skies, in front of over 30,000 spectators dazzled by Marcel HENRIOT, a young pilot aged just 16, the youngest aviator in the world at the time. He flew a monoplane designed and built by his father, René. This 1910 air show marked the beginning of a long history of aviation at Chalon, which would world-renowned centre.

On 21 May 1911, another major air show took place, which concluded with LEGAGNEUX, who had already broken the world height record by reaching 3200 metres, winning a 1000 F prize for having totalled, over several flights, the longest time in the air, about 20 minutes.

Chalon saw industrial aviation take off during the 1914-1918 war, a period when the firm NIEPCE & FETTERER was building Nieuport fighter planes at  Rue du Pont de Fer, due to the Boulogne Billancourt factory being abandoned in the face of the German offensive. These planes were assembled and tested at the Bois de Menuse, which was a large uncultivated field at this time (the Boulogne Billancourt factory was later converted into the famous cinema studios).

In 1919 the Compagnie Française d’Aviation (C.F.A.) was set up to train demobilised pilots at the Prairie Sainte-Marie. They were equipped with NIEUPORT 23s, SPAD VIIs, HENRIOT HD 14s and BREGUET 14s.

Chalon airfield

The airfield was situated alongside the river Saône, near Saint-Jean-des-Vignes. From 1921 onwards, it was suggested that another airfield be found because of a problem with flooding. Four locations were considered: in Sevrey between the Paris-Lyon road and the P.L.M. railway, between Sevrey and Saint-Loup, the Bois de Menuse field and Fragnes.

Plans to build a river port obliged the air service to envisage leaving the Prairie Sainte-Marie site. In 1932 the Chamber of Commerce was given permission to create an airfield north of Chalon, at Champforgeuil, which acquired its first hangar, built by the Roads and Bridges authority, in the year of its inauguration, 1935. The first landing on this new airfield was made by Léglise, Sordet and Goudard. It held its first air show on 14 July 1936.

At the end of a very successful event, the plane used by Blériot to fly over the English Channel in 1909 was presented in flight. It was only in 1939 that the private rented airfield at the Prairie Sainte-Marie, which was subject to flooding, was finally abandoned.