Orconte

Orconte
Orconte
Commune
	The church in Orconte
	Coat of arms
	Location of Orconte
	Orconte Orconte
	Coordinates: 48°40′14″N 4°44′10″E / 48.6706°N 4.7361°E
Country	France
Region	Grand Est
Department	Marne
Arrondissement	Vitry-le-François
Canton	Sermaize-les-Bains
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Mario Hernandez
Area 1	13.65 km2 (5.27 sq mi)
Population (2021)	368
• Density	27/km2 (70/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	51417 /51300
Elevation	119 m (390 ft)
	1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Orconte (French pronunciation: [ɔʁkɔ̃t]) is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.

Second World War

Captain Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900- 1944) stayed in the commune during winter 1939, with the Groupe de Grande Reconnaissance 2/33 (Reconnaissance Group II/23). He evokes this period and the farm (opposite the church) where he lived in Pilote de guerre, translated into English as Flight to Arras.

In September 1944, the United States Army Air Forces established a temporary airfield Advanced Landing Ground, known as "A-66" near Orconte. The Ninth Air Force 354th Fighter Group flew P-51 Mustangs and P-47 Thunderbolts from the airfield from 15 September until 11 December 1944. The unit moved east with the advancing Allied armies and the airfield was dismantled with the land being returned to agricultural use.^[3]^[4]^[5]