Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Lessay Airfield (LFOM) is a small grass airstrip on the Cotentin peninsula in Normandy, close to the town of Lessay, with a single east-west runway and no instrument approach. Once a wartime Advanced Landing Ground and briefly a B-26 Marauder base, it is remembered today chiefly for Charles Lindbergh's 1927 visit and for the monument that stands in its car park.
Lessay Airfield, officially Aérodrome Charles Lindbergh, is a small uncontrolled grass field on the Cotentin peninsula in Normandy, close to the market town of Lessay. It is of interest to visiting pilots chiefly for its wartime and aviation history rather than for any facilities, offering a simple grass-strip arrival amid rolling Normandy farmland not far from the D-Day landing beaches.
The airfield lies southeast of the town of Lessay on the Cotentin peninsula in Normandy, France. It is an uncontrolled aerodrome with no air traffic control service; pilots operate on a common traffic advisory frequency rather than under a formal ATC unit.
Lessay has a single grass runway, 06/24, measuring 4094 feet in length. There is no ILS or other instrument approach available, so arrivals and departures are flown visually.
Traffic at Lessay is coordinated on the CTAF frequency 128.925 MHz, used for self-announcing calls in the absence of a manned air/ground or ATC service. No navaids or instrument approach procedures are associated with the field.
As an uncontrolled grass airfield, Lessay relies on pilots making blind calls on the CTAF frequency to announce joining, circuit and departure intentions, and on standard visual circuit discipline appropriate to a single grass runway; no specific published circuit heights or noise abatement procedures are available from the sources at hand.
The airfield sits southeast of the town of Lessay, reached locally via the D900 road and a turning onto the Rue de l'Aérodrome, which leads directly to the field. A small monument in the airfield car park, commemorating both the 323rd Bomb Group and Charles Lindbergh's 1927 landing, marks the site and can serve as a ground reference for those visiting on foot after arrival.
French sources record that the airfield opened in December 1923. On 4 June 1927 it achieved brief international fame when Charles Lindbergh used it as his final stop in Europe before sailing home to the United States from Cherbourg. Little is recorded of the field between 1928 and April 1944, when German paratroops of Fallschirm-Jäger-Regiment 6 were tasked with its defence during the Normandy campaign. After capture by Allied forces, the airfield was completely rebuilt by the 830th Engineer Aviation Battalion between 1 and 25 August 1944 and reopened as a medium bomber base. The 323rd Bombardment Group (Medium), flying B-26 Marauders, was based there until 24 September 1944, after which the airfield closed on 28 September and the site was returned to French authorities. Unlike most other Advanced Landing Grounds built in Normandy, Lessay was not abandoned to farmland but remained in use, and in 1980 it was formally named Aérodrome Charles Lindbergh in honour of its famous 1927 visitor. Historical aerial photography shows the airfield's layout evolving over the following decades: by 1978 a radio-control flying strip and a motocross track had appeared on the site, and by 2007 one of the original wartime runways had been closed and absorbed by the expanding town, leaving only the single grass strip in use today.
Lessay continues to operate as a small grass airfield without air traffic control, using a common CTAF frequency for radio calls. No instrument approach is available, so all operations are conducted visually. Details of based clubs, fuel availability and opening hours are not covered by the sources at hand.