The Ile-Tudy seaplane base required substantial premises and land. In 1917, the French navy rented the disused Béziers cannery, which had the advantage of having water thanks to a cistern and, above all, a telephone – and soon electricity thanks to a generator. A hotelier from Beg-Meil, Henri Maidon, agreed to make his land on the island, thirteen hectares of dunes, available to the Navy for the symbolic sum of twenty-five francs.
The sailors were housed in the cannery and barracks, the officers at the Coyac hotel on the port and in two villas.
The main food suppliers to the base were the Islander hotelier François Joncour (Hôtel Tudy) and the Boënnec family at Loctudy. The Americans were accused by the islanders of raising prices.
It should be noted that on the estuary side two slipways were built, the first by the French, 350 meters long, then the second in cement, by the Americans, 250 meters long. The American hold was first the French hold !
At the end of the war, the seaplane engines were brought back to the United States, while the hulls were burned on site. Only one machine escaped destruction, recovered by the founder of the Sailor’s shelter, Jacques de Thézac, from Sainte-Marine.
Before leaving, the Americans invited the children of the Island to a Christmas tree in their home (YMCA) and distributed oranges to them.
While the French played a major role in establishing the base and training the inexperienced American pilots, they soon took a back seat. The pilot Hervé Grall, who played a key role in the creation of the island center, reports, bitterly: « At the beginning on Ile-Tudy, the French had all the favors of the population. When the Americans arrived, we did not no more interested anymore. » No one is a prophet in his own country.
