CLUB HISTORY
About
The French Air Association (AFA) was looking for a favorable slope in France with a view to future aeronautical experiments. That of Vauville, announced by its vice-president Maurice Victor at the time, seemed to meet all the desired conditions.
Site selection
The cove of Vauville, located on the west coast of Nord-Cotentin, 20 km from Cherbourg, extends over about twenty km, from the Nez de Jobourg to Diélette. It is bordered, for almost 15 km, by hills covered with grass and heather, 120 to 140 meters high, with an average slope of 30 to 40° (60 to 80%).
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In their northern part, these reliefs plunge directly on the rocky coast, they then deviate a little from the sea, giving way to the village of Vauville then towards the South, to an area of marshes and dunes at Biville. Finally, the relief gradually lowers as far as Siouville and s a magnificent 9 km sandy beach, 400 to 800 m wide depending on the tides.
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It is between Vauville and Biville that the slope, which is particularly regular, rises towards a plateau of communal moors, in a very gentle connection which avoids any turbulence, even in strong winds, this plateau is large enough for take-off and glider landing. Indeed, the beach, and/or certain areas between the dunes, are emergency grounds for gliders descended too low to land on the plateau.
It was here that at the beginning of January 1923, Alexis Maneyrol and the builder Louis Peyret, with their record-breaking glider, came to settle.
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From the outset, flights of increasing duration confirmed the excellence of the slopes of Vauville. They culminated, on January 29, in a flight of 8h05, partly at night, with lights marking the terrain.
The AFA, then certain of the quality of the ground, decided to hold there the following August, its Second Experimental Congress of Aviation Without Engine.
The first two "Experimental Congresses" had been organized for the sole duration of the demonstrations, sheltering the apparatus (even the participants, as at Combegrasse), under temporary canvas shelters: Bessonneau hangars and tents, lent by the army or the Marine. Everything then disappeared.
But the AFA, now certain of the future of gliding, and sure of its choice of Vauville (at least for slope soaring, the only one known at the time), decided to create a permanent Center there, the very first in France, if not in the world. She therefore bought an enclosure adjoining the flying grounds, and had a shed of 20 x 10 m built there, flanked by lean-tos converted into offices, with the telephone; all at his expense. The Municipality of Vauville graciously lent its communal land for the flight zones.
It was, in 1925, an act of faith, which consecrates Vauville as an authentic center of French gliding. Already, the site of Combegrasse had received the name of "Camp Mouillard", in homage to the precursor who built and experimented with gliders in 1856 and 1865, and who, above all, observed with passion, the flight of birds in Africa, works that he published in "L'Empire de l'Air" and "Le Vol sans Battement", rare works today.
The name which was to designate Vauville, imposed itself after, alas, a new mourning: Maneyrol had just fallen in Lympne, in England, six weeks after the Congress of Vauville: during a descent, on his plane, a strong turbulence engaged the aircraft in such a dive that the wings folded up, and it crashed to the ground. Killed outright, Maneyrol disappeared at the age of 32. To honor the memory of the person who first experienced this terrain, Vauville became the "Camp Maneyrol".
