July 2019 tour. Day 6: Saint-Omer

On Wednesday 3rd July Vagn and I took off from the Stadskanaal airfield in the Netherlands. We were grateful to the members of this flying club for being so helpful during our stay; we left our contact details and invited them to get in touch with us when they visit Denmark. Guusje and Hank had already promised to fly to Denmark soon.

Stadskanaal’ club house on take off:

It is always so interesting to see the Netherlands from air! This country has so much water, and the Dutch are so good at making well use of it:

Our destination that day was the aéroclub de Saint-Omer in France:

We were going to make a lunch stop in Midden-Zeeland, so our first leg was going to look as follows:

Close to Midden-Zeeland airport there were many nice areas, either residential or leisure:

And the Midden-Zeeland airport; refuelling station:

Break in the airport’s cafe: first – flight plan, then – lunch.

After about an hour we left Midden-Zeeland. An industrial area somewhere near the airport:

The second leg of our flight to Saint-Omer-Wizernes in France was going to be through the Belgian airspace:

Medieval city of Poperinge, Belgium:

In Saint-Omer-Wizernes, many were out flying. The huge hangar (photo below) was built during the WWII time by Nazis in just two days. Today, it is home to ultralight, experimental, trikes, and GA aircraft.

As we had crossed two borders on our second flight, our flight plan had to be closed from the ground. Jean-Luc, a pilot from the flying club helped us with that:

A tour to the hangar – I was surprised by so many different aircraft they had there:

The Saint-Omer-Wizernes airfield has a rich history – it was one of the first aerodromes in France. Flying on the Wizernes airfield began in 1911 when Louis Schreck, a designer of seaplanes, founded an aircraft factory here with his partner Louis Gaudart. The latter was killed two years later at a flight demonstration in Monaco. From 1916, the factory airfield served WWI, and around 4000 Britons were stationed there.

Over 50 separate squadrons operated from this place during the WWI. Over 100 members of the Royal Flying Corps, Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Air Force are buried in the adjacent Longuenesse cemetery. A monument inaugurated in 2004 commemorates this period:

During its history, the airfield was also home to the French Air Force, and later the Luftwaffe.

Two legendary pilots met there in July 1941: Adolf Galland, the famous German fighter pilot and a General of the German Air Force, and his well-known opponent Douglas Bader from the British Royal Air Force, who had recently disembarked over France from his Spitfire.

From autumn 1942, the airfield was repeatedly made the target of Allied air strikes by the US Army Air Force and in the spring of 1944 the Nazis left it.

The present civil Aérodrome de Saint-Omer was founded in 1956 by the local aeroclub.

We had drinks with the club members, before leaving for the town of Saint Omer:

Jean-Luc kindly drove us to Saint-Omer, and even did a short guided tour for us there. Saint-Omer is one of the most popular towns for visitors to the Nord-Pas de Calais region.  The town grew around a monastery founded in the 7th century by Saint Omer, hence the name. Though the town was severely damaged during both WWI and WWII, some of the 17th and 18th century houses are still standing.

The 13th–15th-century basilica of Notre-Dame (formerly a cathedral) dominated the town’s landscape:

Someone was practising playing organ there, the music was beautiful, and we attempted to get in, but all doors were closed.  The basilica is 100 m long and 50 m wide at the transept. Louis XIV once visited this church in 1677.

One of the squares of Saint-Omer, with restaurants, bars, and cafes:

We were a bit naive and thought we could just call a taxi and get back to the airfield. But nobody answered the phone when we called numerous taxi services… So we had to walk back. It wasn’t that far away, about 3 km.

We stopped by a small catholic church on our way:

A short look at the cemetery before continuing to the airfield:

By the time we got back, it was a very nice, dark and warm starry night. We pitched our tent in the darkness, with the help of headlights. Vagn was doing something with his aircraft – he probably got some good ideas. I went to bed (or shall I say into my sleeping bag). I left the entrance to the tent open, and was looking at the stars before I felt asleep.