Vernouillet, Eure-et-Loir

Commune in Centre-Val de Loire, France

Location of Vernouillet

(2020–2026) Damien Stepho^[1]Area

12.11 km² (4.68 sq mi)Population

(2021)^[2]

12,455 • Density1,000/km² (2,700/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)INSEE/Postal code

28404 /28500

Elevation89–137 m (292–449 ft)¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Vernouillet (French pronunciation: [vɛʁnujɛ]) is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France.

It lies adjacent to the south side of the town of Dreux.

Population

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1968	4,070	—
1975	8,142	+10.41%
1982	10,318	+3.44%
1990	11,680	+1.56%
1999	11,496	−0.18%
2007	11,897	+0.43%
2012	11,899	+0.00%
2017	12,506	+1.00%
Source: INSEE^[3]

Vernouillet Airport

Built prior to World War II as a civil airport, Vernouillet Airport was seized by the Germans in June 1940 during the Battle of France. They used it as a major Luftwaffe military airfield during the occupation. It was liberated by Allied ground forces about 21 August 1944 during the Northern France Campaign. It was then used by the United States Army Air Force Ninth Air Force as a combat Advanced Landing Ground. Declared operational on 26 August, the airfield was designated as "A-41", and was used by combat units until the end of the war. Afterward the airport was returned to civil control.^[4]^[5] The airport was closed after the war due to a conflict of airspace with the expanding Orly Airport near Paris, and is now a small grass airfield general aviation airport with no commercial traffic.^[6]^[7]

Twin towns – sister cities

Vernouillet is twinned with:^[8]

Cheddar, England, United Kingdom
Felsberg, Germany

Notable people

Louis-Nicolas Robert (1761–1828), inventor of the Fourdrinier machine. He is commemorated by a statue in front of the church. Also, the Collège de Louis-Nicolas Robert in the quartier des Grandes Vauvettes is named in his honour.

References

^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
^ "Populations légales 2021". The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
^ Johnson, David C. (1988), U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO), D-Day to V-E Day; Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.
^ Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
^ McAuliffe, Jerome J. (2005). US Air Force in France 1950-1967. San Diego, California: Milspec Press, Chapter 10, "Dreux-Louvillier Air Base". ISBN 0-9770371-1-8.
^ Airport information for LFON at Great Circle Mapper
^ "Jumelage". vernouillet28.fr (in French). Vernouillet, Eure-et-Loir. Retrieved 13 April 2021.