BA279 Musee Canopee Chateaudun 21st Oct 2023

[lrv890]

As many of you are probably aware the French Airforce have stored some of their aircraft at Chateaudun Airbase east of Le Mans . When the air force moved out it seemed to become very difficult to visit but after seeing a post last month I contacted them and was told visits are now possible again on Saturdays and Wednesday but need to be prebooked . All but one of the aircraft are I believe still owned by the Armée de l'Air but seem well looked after by the volunteers .
If you get the chance its well worth a visit
Here is a link to their website
https://canopeechateaudun.fr

On with a few photos

1.
_8512147 by Daren Eaton, on Flickr

2.
Dassault Mirage 2000N - Armée de l'Air (FAF) - 337 / 116-BF by Daren Eaton, on Flickr

3.
Transall C-160R - Armée de l'Air(FAF) - R203 / 64-GC & F221 / GS by Daren Eaton, on Flickr

4.
Dassault Mirage 2000C - Armée de l'Air (FAF) - "50th Anniversary NATO TIGER MEET" - 80 - 103-LI by Daren Eaton, on Flickr

5.
Sepercat Jaguar E - Armée de l'Air (FAF) - E12 / 339-WI by Daren Eaton, on Flickr

6.
Dassault Mirage IIIE - Armée de l'Air (FAF) - 549 - 4-BF by Daren Eaton, on Flickr

7.
Sud-Ouest SO.4050 Vautour IIN - Armée de l'Air (FAF) - ‘308 / 30-MC’ by Daren Eaton, on Flickr

8.
SEPECAT Jaguar E - Armée de l'Air (FAF) - E22 7-HB by Daren Eaton, on Flickr

9.
AMD-BA Mirage 2000B - Armée de l'Air (FAF) - 518 - 5-OM by Daren Eaton, on Flickr

10.
Mirage III - Armée de l'Air (FAF) - 33 TP / 367 by Daren Eaton, on Flickr

Link to the full set

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lrv890/al ... 0312225568

[iainpeden]

Thanks for those, I enjoyed the full set on Flickr.

[Mustang531]

Thanks for sharing these with us, I last visited in 1994 and there was rather a lot more then, stored outside. But they did have some older types displayed, hopefully these have all survived as there was the makings of a good museum collection. The gateguard could do with a good clean though.

[warthog56]

Great selection of former AdlA aircraft. Your Flickr album shows many of the less "glamorous" types which I can remember being front line at Porte Ouverte and Meeting Nationale events I attended. Sadly, I can't see a Mirage iv in the collection though. Thank you.

[Nighthawke]

Mirage IV serial 55 was outside when I drove past last year.

[ridgmeister]

There is a Mirage IV in the hangar but it was not in a great spot for photographs, when I went a few weeks ago.
Paul

[daggerfan]

Great selection of former AdlA aircraft. Your Flickr album shows many of the less "glamorous" types which I can remember being front line at Porte Ouverte and Meeting Nationale events I attended. Sadly, I can't see a Mirage iv in the collection though. Thank you.

Mirage IV features in the Flickr album.

[lrv890]

The Mirage VI is there but its position isn't great for photos

Dassault Mirage IVA - Armée de l'Air (FAF) - 1 - AP by Daren Eaton, on Flickr

[Ridge Runner]

very nice

[Lossie]

If the French Air and Space Force don't use Chateaudun any more, do they have another facility they use to store aircraft?

[lrv890]

I don't know the answer if I'm honest but I'm sure someone on here does :-)

[sschofield]

If the French Air and Space Force don't use Chateaudun any more, do they have another facility they use to store aircraft?

No. Chateaudun was part storage facility (a mix of indoors and outdoors), part breakers yard (outside), and part aircraft graveyard (also outside). They cleared the scrapping areas first, then worked through the more complete stuff. I think it was partly a political exercise, where France didn't want to be seen having dozens (occasionally hundreds) of redundant airframes on public view. Anthing stored now is at the main operational bases, but I don't think a huge amount survived.

It's a shame, because a couple of hours at the fence round the back of Chateaudun over the years has netted a lot of airframes for many of us! (And thrown up even more questions in the process!)

I don't know what the future plan for the base is, but it's a decent size so it'd make one hell of a housing estate! I live about 5 miles from the old Avro/Bae facility at Woodford in Cheshire, and that's exactly what they have done there! Ironically, just like Chateaudun, there's also a museum in one corner of the airfield too!

[Lossie]

Thanks for that Stuart.