Panel No. 1 (5 photos)
Image 3350
Lieutenant Antoine Destrem aboard a Tellier seaplane on the Odet river in front of Saint-Marine. He created the Ile-Tudy base in March 1917.
We notice from right to left : the Villa l’Hermitage of Jacques de Thézac, the house of the shipowner Donat which overlooks the old 16th century house, the sailor’s shelter and the old customs barracks (Jacques de Thézac collection, Departmental Museum of Brittany, Quimper).
Document 17
A Donnet-Denhaut seaplane from the French maritime aviation on the Ile-Tudy slipway in 1917 (Coll. Grall).
IT seaplane base 1917 – 5
A Bessonneau aircraft hangar under construction by French sailors.
IT seaplane base 1917 – 4
In 1917, the first Bessonneau aircraft hangar under construction by the French navy. On the right, many reinforced concrete block to fix the cables. In the background, the Béziers cannery.
IT seaplane base 1917 – 2
A Bessonneau aircraft hangar under construction. On the right, an operational dormitory and on the left, the Béziers cannery.
Panel 2 (8 photos)
Img. 3320
American sailors hard at work installing the base. In the background, the Pen An Truck wall and the Delaporte house.
Img. 3342
American sailors hard at work installing the base. In the background, the Bessonneau aircraft hangars.
Img. 3356
On each side of the road, a Bessonneau aircraft hangar in wood and canvas. We notice, on the left, the reinforced concrete block on which the cables were stiffened to fix the aircraft hangars. Behind the water reserve, the Béziers cannery disused since 1911.
Img. 3341
The barracks and the water reserve. In the background, the Béziers cannery.
Img. 3344
View of the dormitories and the relaxation room (YMCA) on the beach side. We can see the calvary and, in the background, the church tower.
Img. 3345
Various barracks and installations on the estuary side. In the background, the Kermor dike.
Img. 3340
The future President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt on the Sainte-Marine ferry in 1918. He had just inspected the Ile-Tudy base as Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
Img. 3237
Aerial view of the base, estuary side. We can see the slipway, the Béziers cannery, the hangars, the barracks and the workshops. On the left, the double metal hangar is under construction (coll. S.H.M. Vincennes).
Panel 3 (6 photos)
Img. 3349
The double metal aircraft hangar, completed only at the beginning of September 1918. It houses French Donnet-Denhaut seaplanes and American Curtiss HS-1s (Jacques de Thézac collection, Departmental Museum of Brittany, Quimper).
Img. 3348
Aerial view, sea side, of the American base in 1918. The four Bessonneau aircraft hangars are built, the double metal hangar is under construction on the right. Note the exceptional length of the slipway (coll. S.H.M. Vincennes).
Military memorial
In Smithfield, North Carolina in the United States, the military memorial in memory of pilot Edwin Smith Pou, who died accidentally on October 28, 1918 while landing on Ile-Tudy.
Reinforced concrete block preserved on the site. A cable was attached to it, to stiffen one of the Bessonneau aircraft hangars.
The two current aerial views of the site. We see that the entire territory is now urbanized.
