After visiting Audembert we went to Audresselles, a small village on the French coast, where we had a very nice lunch.
The house above (Swedish flag to honor our visit!) was the home of the French World War II pilot Edmond Marin la Meslée. During the “battle of France” he flew Curtiss 75 fighters and distinguished himself by shooting down 16 “certain” German aircraft, although some sources credit him with as many as 20 including his 4 “probable” ones. He continued fighting through the war but in February 1945 he was shot down during a strafing attack in a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.
After lunch we had a very short visit at the airfield at St Inglevert, an airfield with a very interesting story. It was established during WWI as a Royal Flying Corps airfield (there are remains of a hangar from that period). Between the wars it was a civil airfield. During the Second World War, Saint-Inglevert was first used by the Royal Air Force and the Armée de l’Air but towards the end of the Battle of France it was captured by the Germans. The Luftwaffe JG51 was based here and from August 1940 this was the base for the famous Luftwaffe pilot Werner Mölders – the first pilot ever to claim 100 aerial victories.
The airfield was abandoned from 1957 until 1986 but is today used by l’aéroclub du Boulonnais.
Unfortunately we had very little time here and could only have a brief look at a few bunkers once used by German field artillery units that were part of the “Atlantic Wall”.
Our excursion to France ended abruptly and we were back on the ferry…
…soon to see those white cliffs of Dover.
