Valence - Chabeuil Airport Valence - Chabeuil Airport is an airport in France , located about east of Valence ( in the Drôme department , Rhone - Alpes region ) and approximately south - southeast of Paris . The airport was a pre - World War II French Air Force ( Armée de l ' Air ) airfield . After the Battle of France , it was seized by Nazi Germany in November 1942 . It was later used by the Luftwaffe , and after the Allied Invasion of southern France in August 1944 , by the United States Army Air Forces Twelfth Air Force . Used by the French Air Force base after the war , it was closed and today the airport is used for general aviation , with no commercial airline service . It is still occasionally used by military aircraft . History . The airport ' s origin dates from the 1930s when the French Air Force ( Armée de l ' Air ) established Valence - Chabeuil Air Base . It was the headquarters for the Zone d ' Opérations Aériennes des Alpes - Z . O . A . A . ( Alps Air Operations Area ) . Known operational units assigned were : The Portez was a heavy twin - engined fighter . With the outbreak of war in May 1940 , the unit did not see action against the Germans in the Battle of France . However , operations were flown against the Italian Army ( Regio Esercito ) after the Italian invasion of France on 10 June . After the Second Armistice at Compiègne the Armée de l ' Air units assigned to the airfield were ordered to French North Africa , and the airport was closed by the Vichy France government . German use during World War II . After the forceful occupation of Vichy France in November 1942 as a result of Case Anton Wehrmacht units moved into the Valence area and the airport came under the control of the Luftwaffe . It was not , however used as an operational base until July 1943 when XI . Fliegerkorps moved Luftlandegeschwader 1 ( LLG 1 ) ( Airborne Squadron 1 ) to the airport , equipped with 32 Henschel Hs 126 reconnaissance aircraft and 120 DFS 230 light transport gliders . In early August 1944 , Kampfgeschwader 26 ( KG 26 ) moved Junkers Ju 88 s to the airfield to attack advancing United States Seventh Army forces moving north , however the Luftwaffe was driven out by Twelfth Air Force attacks . American use . Twelfth Air Force combat engineers moved into Valence - Chabeuil Airport in late August 1944 , and cleared the airport of mines and destroyed German aircraft . It was declared ready for operational use on 2 September 1944 . It was designated as Advanced Landing Ground " Y - 23 Valence " . The 79th Fighter Group was assigned to the airport and operated P - 47 Thunderbolt fighter - bomber aircraft until the end of September 1944 , until moving north with the advancing Allied forces . Once the combat unit moved out , Valence - Chabeuil became a transport airfield , supporting C - 47 Skytrain resupply and also casualty evacuation flights until being returned to French control on 20 November 1944 . Postwar / Current use . In 1945 the Armée de l ' Air returned to its airfield and it returned to its prewar status as an active air base . A 2100m all - weather asphalt runway was laid down for jet aircraft operations , and the damage caused by World War II was repaired . It is undetermined when it was converted to a civilian airport . Today the airport is a modern , fully equipped facility with two additional parallel grass runways available for use . A large aircraft parking ramp along with a hangar and support buildings are available . In addition , several hangars appear to be used by the French Air Force , with a separate parking area for military aircraft and support area .