V1 launch site Val Ygot d'Ardouval

In autumn 1943, the Germans began to build a launch base for their V-1 rocket in the woods near the town Ardouval, 20 km. south of Dieppe.

There were countless such simple sites scattered across northern France. The pilotless planes were supplied by rail from production factories in Germany and were prepared and fired from a launch pad at each site.

Once launched, the V1 flying bomb could not be controlled so the launch ramp had to be pointing directly toward the target; the ramp at Ardouval was pointing straight to  London, 200 km. to the northwest. The distance from the ramp to the target was also of great importance since the V1 crashed to the ground either when it ran out of fuel or when a special control valve turned off  the fuel. Such a system was simple though not very accurate.

The basic, lightweight design and small size of the base was a deliberate choice by the Germans. The base was quick to build and used few scarce building materials; as well as being designed to be concealed from Allied bombers.  Nevertheless, as with most other V1 sites, its location was known to the Allies and it was subjected to numerous bomb attacks between December 1943 until the Germans left there in June 1944.

Today there is an open exhibition on the ground containing ruins of the various buildings and bunkers, and a copy of a V1 flying bomb placed on a launch pad.