USAS training near French coast?

[John_P]

A letter from my great uncle before his assignment to the 13th AS refers to him undertaking aerial gunnery training somewhere near the Atlantic coast of France "near a famous summer resort". ANyone know where this was, and was it a supplement to, or in lieu of, Issoudun?? thanks in advance.

[Skippy]

Could this be Saint-Jean-de-Monts? It's in the Vendee, where the Loire goes home to the sea...
According to Thatcher's America's First Eagles, there was a grave need to train pilots in the summer of 1918, and this was the location of one French school used for gunnery training; it graduated about 300 USAS personnel.
These French gunnery schools invariably were located near large bodies of water, as high-speed motor boats were used as part of the target practice.
You can find this town (use Mappoint) on the Bay of Biscay, at the base of the Brittany peninsula, just below Saint-Nazaire...
Hoppy to be of service...