Spotting near Montauban

[Nielis]

Hello all,

In two weeks I'm going to france near the town of montauban for a holiday.
I'm about 4 hours drive from Mont-De-Marsan and Cazaux. I'm also about 5 hours away from Orange and 3 hours away from the airbus plant in Toulouse.

Does anybody know if there are places too see planes or war related places that are somewhat closer that the places who are writen above?

I maybe go to one of those airbases who are a long drive away. I Also would like too know if there is lot of activity and if there gonna be some flying in that period.

Nielis

[Basman]

Hi Nielis,

How close are you to Montauban then??? Montauban-Mont de Marsan should be no more than 2,5 hours, Montauban-Toulouse less than an hour!

Besides that, Montauban holds an army storage airfield where a lot of choppers are stored. The storage itself is walled but the small airfield where the choppers arrive or leave is not. In the town itself are some military barracks and I believe a Puma is preserved there.

Bas

[Nielis]

I'm not going to montauban itself but to a small town called Saint-Martial-De-Nabirat. I Picked montauban because it is the nearest known town. By the way I would like to thank you for the intel.

[Nielis]

Do you know how frequent choppers arriving or leaving

[Basman]

I looked up Saint Martial de Nabirat on Google Maps....that's rather far from Montauban! Forget Montauban then, why not drive to Bordeaux-Merignac directly? I know it's further but also much more interesting, with Mirage 2000 and Rafale production lines and a maintenance company that might give you an exotic Herc. Besides, it has a couple of small CEV and Douane planes, a military chopper unit, some preserved stuff (Mirage IV!), regular military visitors and civil trafic too, but I don't know if that is of interest to you.

Ofcourse, Cazaux is not that far from Bordeaux either but I never spotted from the outside over there, I believe it is known to be a difficult place to spot from the outside.

Bas

PS by the way, I have no idea on the frequency of movements at Montauban, but don't count on many. Passed there once but didn't see a thing. Didn't stay long though.