Detailed history

When war broke out in 1939, the airfield experienced a resurge in activity. The Armée de l'Air stationed the 31 Bomb squadron 'Tours' and the observation squadron 'Chartres' at the airfield. A year later, during the Battle of France, airmen were ordered to abandon and destroy their aircraft and leave.
The Germans took over the airfield under command of General Alfred Hienz. The airfield was redeveloped. Runways were repaired and lengthened and nine new hangars emerged. Point-Clos became the largest airfield in inland Brittany. Many of the bombers that pounded England originated here. JG27 and Schellkampfgeschwader JG12 are known to have used the airfield. German base commander Alfred Ernst, known for his love of fast cars and beautiful girls, while being liked for his efforts to keep good relations with the local French people, also left an arboreum at the site.
In 1942, 60 bombers and 40 transport aircraft, as well as one hundred gliders were based here, guarded by tanks and SS-troops stationed around the base. Among others, the Germans used the base to develop new low-level parachute techniques and to train Bf-109 pilots for service in Africa. 12./JG2 was stationed at the airfield between November 1943 and March 1944.

From March to August 1944, the base was regularly attacked by the Americans and the British in an affort to drive the Germans off the base. They finally succeeded on 3 August 1944, when American troops commanded by General Patton liberated Gaël. Their 850Engineer Aviation Battalion repaired the base as a fighter/bomber base and renamed the airfield Advaced Landing Ground A-31 'Gael'. The airfield was then used by the 364 Figther Group, operating P-51 Mustangs between 13 August and 15 September 1944. The airfield closed and was released to French control on 28 September.

Around 1960, Gaël suffered the same fate that many other wartime airfields suffered: the lands were converted for other purposes. In this case, long rows were filled with seedlings, and the hangars were removed. The platform in front of the hangars still remained in this 1961 photo, thou

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