Knokke-Zoute Airfield is a former airfield, located 5 km east of

Knokke-Heist Knokke-Heist (; french: Knocke-Heist) is a municipality in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Heist-aan-Zee, Knokke, Duinbergen, Ramskapelle and Westkapelle. On January 1, 2006 Knokke-Heist had a total ...

West Flanders ) , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of West Flanders.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van West-Vlaanderen.svg , shield_size = , image_map ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. It was closed in 1960 and is now in agricultural use.

History

Originally constructed in 1929 between

Knokke Knokke () is a town in the municipality of Knokke-Heist, which is located in the province of West Flanders in Flanders, Belgium. The town itself has 15,708 inhabitants (2007), while the municipality of Knokke-Heist has 33,818 inhabitants (2009). ...

and the

Zwin The Zwin is a nature reserve at the North Sea coast, on the Belgian-Dutch border. It consists of the entrance area of a former tidal inlet which during the Middle Ages connected the North Sea with the ports of Sluis and Bruges inland. The Zwin ...

natural reserve. Initially serving civilian aviation, both by private pilots and airlines such as

Sabena The ''Societé anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne'' (French; ), better known by the acronym Sabena or SABENA, was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels National Airport. After its ba ...

, it became a Belgian Air Force field by the late 1930s. At the outbreak of the German invasion of Belgium in May 1940, it was home to 6e Escadrille (Squadron) of 3rd Group flying

Fairey Fox The Fairey Fox was a British light bomber and fighter biplane of the 1920s and 1930s. It was originally produced in Britain for the RAF, but continued in production and use in Belgium long after it was retired in Britain. Development and des ...

es tasked with firing exercises over the North Sea. The squadron was evacuated prior to the airfield being attacked by the German

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

on 10 May. The Belgian Air Force ordered the field destroyed before it was seized by the German Army on 18 May. During the German occupation of Belgium it was used for the training of Anti-Aircraft FLAK units and aircraft hangars were constructed, however it was not used as a Luftwaffe airfield. It was attacked by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

in 1942, and in 1944 the airfield was ordered destroyed by the Germans. Trenches were dug to destroy the runways and the area was mined. The area was liberated by

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also res ...

forces in October 1944 and aviation engineers de-mined and constructed twin temporary runways on the airfield. It was designated Advanced Landing Ground B-83; it is not known which Allied units were stationed at the airfield. After May 1945, it was abandoned by the military and turned over to the Belgian Government. It reverted to civilian use until 1960 when the facility was closed. The former airfield/airport has been dismantled and is now used for agriculture.

References

Knokke-'t Zwin Airfield
* Johnson, David C. (1988), U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO), D-Day to V-E Day; Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.

External links

{{authority control Airports in West Flanders 1929 establishments in Belgium 1960 disestablishments in Belgium Airports established in 1929 Belgian airbases Defunct airports in Belgium World War II airfields in Belgium Knokke-Heist de:Knokke-Heist#Flugplatz Knokke-Le Zoute