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In the early days of aviation, when there were no paved runways and all
landing fields were grass, a typical airfield might permit takeoffs and
landings in only a couple of directions, much like today's airports, whereas an
aerodrome was distinguished, by virtue of its much greater size, by its ability
to handle landings and take offs in any direction. The ability to always take
off and land directly into the wind, regardless of the wind's direction, was an
important advantage in the earliest days of aviation when an airplane's
performance in a crosswind takeoff or landing might be poor or even
dangerous. The development of differential braking in aircraft, improved
aircraft performance, utilization of paved runways, and the fact that a
circular aerodrome required much more space than did the "L" or triangle
shaped airfield, eventually made the early aerodromes obsolete. The city of
the first aerodrome in the world is a French commune named Viry-Chatillon.
The unimproved airfield remains a phenomenon in military aspects.
The DHC-4 Caribou served in the U.S. military in Vietnam (designated as the
CV-2), landing on rough, unimproved airfields where the C-130 workhorse
could not operate. Earlier, the Ju-52 and Fieseler Storch could do the same,
one example of the latter taking off from theFhrerbunker whilst completely
surrounded by Russian troops.