Base Lieutenant Étienne Mantoux, formerly Étain-Rouvres Air Base is a base of the French Army Light Aviation. It is located on the Lorraine Plateau in northeastern France, 1 mile (1.6 km) to the west of Étain; on the west side of the Départemental 906 (D906) (Meuse) road, adjacent to the village of Rouvres-en-Woevre in the Meuse département about 12 miles east of Verdun. It was built in 1937 and has been used by the French, British, German, and U.S. Air Forces, before the French Army took the base over, after 1967.
Origins
Rouvres airdrome was built by the French Air Force in 1937. They flew Bloch-131 tactical reconnaissance aircraft. When World War II began, the Royal Air Force moved in flying Hawker Hurricanes of No. 73 Squadron RAF.
After the fall of France, the Luftwaffe used the base, flying Focke-Wulf Fw 190D fighters.
When the German Army was driven out by the U S Third Army in early September 1944, the airfield was put back into operational service by the United States Army Air Forces IX Engineer Command 926th Engineering Aviation Regiment. On 9 September the combat engineers arrived to lay down a temporary airfield to support the ground forces in their advance against enemy forces.
The 926th EAR laid down a 5000-foot grass runway aligned roughly east–west (08/26), along with a small support area. The 7th Field Hospital was stationed here on 13 September 1944, where C-47 transports of the IX Tactical Air Command evacuated wounded to General Hospitals in the rear.
In late October 1944, the 825th Engineering Aviation Regiment returned to the airfield and began improvements, laying down an all-weather Pierced Steel Planking (PSP) runway for Ninth Air Force combat fighter use along with upgrading the support site with tents for billeting and also for support facilities; an access road was built to the existing road infrastructure; a dump for supplies, ammunition, and gasoline drums, along with a drinkable water and minimal electrical grid for communications and station lighting.
The United States Army Air Forces Ninth Air Force 362d Fighter Group used the captured airfield from 5 November 1944 until early April 1945. Its USAAF designation was A-82, Verdun/Etain Advanced Landing Ground (ALG). Three squadrons of P-47 "Thunderbolts" bombed and strafed such targets as flak positions, armored vehicles, and troop concentrations during the Battle of the Bulge. There was some controversy at the time as stationing a hospital and a combat unit on the same airstrip was a violation of the Geneva Conventions, but the 7th Field Hospital was not relocated until 15 Jan 1945 after Metz was taken.
The 362d received a Distinguished Unit Citation for action over the Moselle-Rhine River triangle. Despite the intense anti-aircraft fire encountered while flying armed reconnaissance in close cooperation with infantry forces in that area on 16 March 1945, the 362d hit enemy forces, equipment, and facilities, its targets including motor transports, armored vehicles, railroads, railway cars, and gun emplacements.
In addition P-61 "Black Widows" from the 416th and 425th Night Fighter Squadrons operated from Verdun/Etain until moving into occupied Germany in 1945. By mid-April the airfield had become redundant combat needs and the facility was returned to being a S&E (Supply and Evacuation) airfield, and was used until being closed on 22 May 1945. The wartime airfield was then turned over to French authorities.
In the immediate postwar years, the base was unused.
In May 1952 the Second World War airfield at Etain was proposed for expansion into a modern air base. An agreement was reached to redevelop Etain and to station United States Air Force tactical fighter-bombers there by the end of 1954. However budget restrictions delayed major construction for about a year. Although a base facility was ready for the USAF to use at the end of 1954, the facility was not ready for full acceptance until the summer of 1956 with the railroad spur into Etain not being completed until June 1955, and underground fuel storage was delayed until 1956.
United States Air Force use
The first contingent of USAF personnel to Etain Air Base was Flight "C", 73rd Support Group (Depot) from Chateauroux-Deols Air Base on 1 February 1953. This advanced group was tasked with safeguarding USAF property and to coordinate construction activities. In addition, the 7005th Air Base Squadron was activated to bring the base up to operational status.