Châteauroux-Centre \Marcel Dassault\ Airport

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There's been an airport at Châteauroux since the late 1920s, initially as a civil transport airfield, Châteauroux-Déols, providing regional air service within France. Then in 1935/6 Marcel Dassault built his first aircraft factory there, building bombers for the French Air Force. In 1951 agreement was reached for the United States Air Force to have joint usage of the airport with the French to support both civil and military aircraft. Châteauroux-Déols Air Base became a front-line base for the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) between 1951 and 1967. In the wake of the 1967 military grand depart, the airport reverted to civilian use and was renamed in tribute to Marcel Dassault, then subsequently to the more localised Châteauroux-Centre Airport lending a clearer geographical association with the nearby town of Châteauroux. It became an industrial airport with a dedicated rail link into the airport connecting to the French railways (SNCF) Paris to Toulouse line. The Châteauroux airport property is entirely enclosed by a perimeter security fence that meets ICAO standards with controlled access gates. This no doubt helped it gain a new role in 2020 when British Airways sent many of its planes to 'secure park' there, in a move designed to prevent its planes from rusting whilst they are inactive due to the pandemic.

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