Fourneuil, France 02 Jun 1918 - 21 Jun 1918
60112 Fourneuil, Verderel-lès-Sauqueuse, France
The site of the airfield was a few hundred meters to the west of the village
Much to our delight Monsieur André Paillard knew exactly what we were asking about and immediately pointed to fields at the edge of the village.
His father used to play in the fields around the airfield
The area around the village is ideal airfield country as can be seen in the above photographs.
49sqn and Fourneuil
02 Jun 1918 - 21 Jun 1918
Casualties: 7 x DH9, 2 x killed, 2 x pow, 2 x injured The squadron moved south again and in June 1918, from Fourneuil, near Beauvais, it was engaged in intensive low-flying attacks on ground targets as well as long-distance bombing raids.
On June 5th the 3rd Battle of Aisne ended with the Germans exhausted and overstretched.
On June 9th the Germans began the Gneisenau Offensive between Noyon and Mondidier. The Allies counter-attacked but, on June12th, the offensive was called off.
During the offensive and subsequent counter-attacks 49 squadron shot down seventeen enemy aircraft.
49Sqn was stationed very close to the thrust of the offensive On June 21st/22nd the squadron moved north to Beauvois (not to be confused with Beauvais) in order to be closer to the Arras & Ypres areas of operation.
