Frejus Airport Frejus Airport . is a former airport in France , located about 1 mile south of Saint - Raphaël ( Departement du Var , Provence - Alpes - Côte d ' Azur ) ; 430 miles southeast of Paris . The airport today is closed , but appears to be well - maintained . Now it is used as a sport complex and contains facilities for , among others football , rugby , running , and basketball . History . Frejus Airport was built before World War I as a grass naval airfield . The airfield opened on 28 March 1912 with the first official test flight of a Canard Voisin . It continued to be used for test flights . For the tests a new unit was established called the CEPA ( Commission d ' Etudes Pratiques d ' Aéronautique or the Commission for the Practical Study of Aviation ) . The CEPA ' s mascotte was the head of a Sioux in the shape of a question mark . In its long history of naval aviation , the raid by Roland Garros on 23 September 1913 between Frejus and Bizerte is noteworthy . During World War I the number of Navy ( French : Aeronavale ) aircraft grew from about thirty to over a thousand . After the armistice of the Great War , many flight test centers were closed , but Fréjus remained open . Throughout the 1920s and 1930s Fréjus played a major role in testing new aircraft for the aéronavale . The first expansion of the center occurred in 1923 , and by 1924 the airfield consisted of 9 hangars and a starting track for land - based aircraft . The CEPA participated in the first French aircraft carrier trials in the 1920s . Throughout the 1920s and 1930s multiple land - , sea - , and carrier aircraft types were tested . The second expansion was begun in 1931 , growing to 156 hectares , the size it would remain until dissolution in 1995 . The bases most memorable hangar ( Caquot ) was built in 1935 After the Battle of France in May and June 1940 , Frejus was part of Italian - occupied France , and airport operations were suspended . However , the Italian Royal Air Force ( Regia Aeronautica Italiana ) did not use the airfield . On 15 August 1944 , United States Army parachute units , which included the 4th , 5th and 6th parachute battalions and lst Indian Army Pathfinders , dropped into southern France between Frejus and Cannes as part of Operation Dragoon . Their objective was to capture the area , destroy all enemy positions , and hold the ground until the United States Seventh Army came ashore . Frejus Airport was seized from the Italian and German forces in the area and came under American control . Twelfth Air Force combat engineers arrived at the airport with the amphibious forces and laid out a 6000 ' sod runway , aligned east - west ( 08 / 26 ) , making the airport operational for combat aircraft by 26 August . It was designated as Advanced Landing Ground " Y - 12 St . Raphael / Frejus " . The 79th Fighter Group flew P - 47 Thunderbolt combat operations from the airfield against the retreating German and Italian forces from Frejus until mid - October 1944 . Once the combat unit moved out , Frejus became a transport airfield , supporting C - 47 Skytrain resupply and also casualty evacuation flights , until being returned to French control on 20 November 1944 . After the war , an asphalt runway was laid down north - south and the airport operated under ICAO code LFTU until 1999 . The runway and taxiway appear to be in very good condition , but are marked with large X ' s to indicate the closure of the air field . No evidence of wartime use remains .