Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Écausseville airship hangar, located in the Channel in Normandy, was built during World War I to house military airships. In 1916, the French Army commanded two hangars at the Bazirerie site: the first, made of wood, was completed in 1917 by the Société Sainte-Beuve and Garnier, while the second, made of reinforced concrete, was designed by the engineer Henry Lossier and made by Fourré and Rhodes between 1917 and 1919. The latter, 150 meters long and 28 meters high, used the Hennebique process with 2,540 prefabricated concrete tiles, becoming the third such work in France.

The concrete hangar, intended for anti-submarine warfare, only became operational after the Armistice of 1918. As early as 1922, when the airships were rendered obsolete, the site was decommissioned in 1927. During World War II, the Germans abandoned him in 1944 and the Americans used him. From 1946 to 1994, he served as a warehouse for the National Navy, with a brief period (1967-1969) dedicated to tests for the French atomic bomb. Between 2004 and 2008, he hosted air balloon training.

Ranked a historic monument in 2003, this hangar is the last of its kind in France with that of Meudon. Purchased in 1999 by a Franco-American association, then in 2008 by the community of communes, it is now preserved by the Association des amis du hangar. Its innovative architecture, combining reinforced concrete and metal frame, and its history of military aeronautics make it a unique heritage.

The construction of the concrete hangar involved a variety of materials: cement from the Ham factory, glass chassis from Saint-Gobain, and concrete iron imported from the United States because of the German occupation of the steel regions. The Eiffel-style sliding door was installed in 1920 but destroyed by a cyclone in 1940. Despite its rapid obsolescence, the building illustrates the technical innovation of the period and the logistical challenges of the war.

After its military decommissioning, the hangar experienced several civilian reuses. In the 2000s, it became a place of experimentation for aeronautical projects, such as the tests of Stéphane Belgrand Rousson for his crossing of the Channel in a balloon with human propulsion. Today, it is open to the public in the summer for aeroplum flights, while remaining a symbol of Norman industrial and military heritage.

Future

The French-American Association of Norman Airfields of the 9th U.S. Air Force acquired the site in 1999 and tried to enhance this heritage with the Association des amis du hangar à dirigables d'Écausseville.

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