Melsbroek Air Base is a

Belgian Air Component The Belgian Air Component ( nl, Luchtcomponent, french: Composante air) is the air arm of the Belgian Armed Forces, and until January 2002 it was officially known as the Belgian Air Force ( nl, Belgische Luchtmacht; french: Force aérienne belg ...

facility in

Steenokkerzeel Steenokkerzeel () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the towns of Melsbroek, Perk and Steenokkerzeel proper. On December 31, 2010 Steenokkerzeel had a total population of 11,580. The ...

, northeast of

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, the capital of

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 is located on the northern side of the same site as

Brussels Airport Brussels Airport, nl, Luchthaven Brussel, vls, Vliegpling Brussel, german: Flughafen Brüssel is an international airport northeast of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. In 2019, more than 26 million passengers arrived or departed at Bruss ...

, with which it shares runways and ground and air control facilities. The 15th Air Transport Wing operates from Melsbroek Air Base with following types: *

Airbus A310 The Airbus A310 is a wide-body aircraft, designed and manufactured by Airbus Industrie, then a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers. Airbus had identified a demand for an aircraft smaller than the A300, the first twin-jet wide-bod ...

(retired) *

Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A340 ...

(retired) *

Airbus A321 The Airbus A321 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short to medium range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin engine jet airliners; it carries 185 to 236 passengers. It has a stretched fuselage which was the first derivative of the ba ...

Dassault Falcon 20 The Dassault Falcon 20 is a French business jet developed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. The first business jet developed by the firm, it became the first of a family of business jets to be produced under the same name; of these, both ...

Dassault Falcon 900 The Dassault Falcon 900, commonly abbreviated as the F900, is a French-built corporate trijet aircraft made by Dassault Aviation. Development The Falcon 900 is a development of the Falcon 50, itself a development of the earlier Falcon 20. Th ...

Dassault Falcon 7x The Dassault Falcon 7X is a large-cabin, range business jet manufactured by Dassault Aviation, the second largest of its Dassault Falcon line. Launched at 2001 Paris Air Show, its first flight was on 5 May 2005 and it entered service on 15 Jun ...

* Embraer 135 & 145 *

Lockheed C-130 The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally design ...

(being replaced by A400M) *

Airbus A400M Atlas The Airbus A400M AtlasNamed after the Greek mythological figure. is a European four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. It was designed by Airbus Military (now Airbus Defence and Space) as a tactical airlifter with strategic capabil ...

History

The aerodrome was constructed by the German

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the 1944

liberation of Belgium The Liberation of Belgium from German occupation was completed on 4 February 1945 when the entire country was reportedly free of German troops with the liberation of the village of Krewinkel. The operation began when Allied forces entered on 2 ...

, Melsbroek was operated by the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

and 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) and ...

when it was known as B58 Melsbroek.

Operation Bodenplatte Operation Bodenplatte (; "Baseplate"), launched on 1 January 1945, was an attempt by the Luftwaffe to cripple Allied air forces in the Low Countries during the Second World War. The goal of ''Bodenplatte'' was to gain air superiority during th ...

, the German aerial attack of 1 January 1945, hit Melsbroek hard. According to

Emil Clade Emil Josef Clade (26 February 1916 – May 2010) was a Luftwaffe fighter ace in World War II, and figured in German civilian aviation after the war. Enlisting in the Luftwaffe in 1937, prior to World War II, Clade served throughout the war as a ...

(leading III./

JG 27 ''Jagdgeschwader'' 27 (JG 27) "''Afrika''" was a fighter wing of the Luftwaffe during World War II. The wing was given the name "Africa" for serving in the North African Campaign predominantly alone in the period from April 1941 to Septemb ...

), the AAA positions were not manned, and aircraft were bunched together or in lines, which made perfect targets. The attack caused considerable damage among the units based there and was a great success. The

Recce Recce may refer to: * Reconnaissance, military scouting * SEAL Recon Rifle, a rifle used by US Navy SEALs also called the ''Recce Rifle'' * Recce (filmmaking), a pre-shoot reconnaissance of a film location * South African Special Forces Brigade ...

Wings had lost two entire squadrons worth of machines.

No. 69 Squadron RAF The designation No. 69 Squadron has been used by the Royal Air Force for two quite different units. No. 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps was formed at Point Cook, Victoria, Australia in 1916. To avoid confusion with No. 3 Squadron, RFC, it ...

lost 11

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...

s and two damaged. Possibly all

No. 140 Squadron RAF No. 140 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was a Second World War photo-reconnaissance squadron that operated between 1941 and 1945. History Briefly formed during the First World War on 1 May 1918 at RAF Biggin Hill as a home defence squadron with ...

′s

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or ...

aircraft were lost. At least five

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

s from

No. 16 Squadron RAF Number 16 Squadron, nicknamed ''the Saints'', is a flying squadron of the Royal Air Force providing Elementary Flying Training (EFT) with the Grob Tutor T.1 from RAF Wittering. It formed in 1915 at Saint-Omer to carry out a mixture of offensi ...

were destroyed.

No. 271 Squadron RAF No. 271 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was operational for two periods; a few brief months between 27 September 1918 and 9 December 1918 operating flying boats to protect shipping from German U-boats, and between 28 March 1940 and 1 December 19 ...

lost at least seven Handley Page Harrow transports "out of action". A further 15 other aircraft were destroyed. 139 Wing reported five

North American B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in e ...

bombers destroyed and five damaged. Some 15 to 20

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

(USAAF) bombers were also destroyed.Manrho & Pütz 2004, p. 217. Another source states that 13 Wellingtons were destroyed, as were five Mosquitoes, four

Auster Auster Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1938 to 1961.Willis, issue 122, p.55 History The company began in 1938 at the Britannia Works, Thurmaston near Leicester, England, as Taylorcraft Aeroplanes (England) Limited, ma ...

s and five

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) a ...

s from the Tactical Air Forces 2nd Communications Squadron. Three Spitfires were also lost and two damaged. At least one

RAF Transport Command RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 1967. ...

Douglas Dakota The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...

was destroyed. After the war, Melsbroek replaced

Haren Airfield Haren Airport or Evere Airfield is a former military airfield and civil airport in Brussels, Belgium. Located in Brussels' city section of Haren and adjacent municipality of Evere, it was established by the German Empire in 1914 and lasted unt ...

as the Belgian national airport. That title is now carried by the

Zaventem Zaventem () is a Belgian municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant. It is located in the Dijleland area, one of the three large recreational areas which together form the '' Groene Gordel'' ("Green Belt") around the Brussels-Capital Region. ...

terminal on the same aerodrome, built for the 1958 world exposition. At that time, the existing terminal was taken over by the then Belgian Air Force. When

Trans European Airways Trans European Airways, usually referred to by its initials TEA, was a Belgian airline that operated from 1971 to 1991. It had its head office in Building 117 on the grounds of Melsbroek Airport in Steenokkerzeel, Belgium. History TEA was fou ...

existed, its head office was in Building 117 of Melsbroek Airport. When

CityBird CityBird was an airline founded in 1996, and based in Building 117D, Melsbroek Airport in Zaventem. The airline filed for bankruptcy in October 2001. Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium considered buying them out of bankruptcy, but later pulled out. ...

existed its head office was in Building 117D.CityBird Offices
"

. Retrieved on 3 November 1999.

References

{{authority control Belgian airbases Airports in Flemish Brabant World War II airfields in Belgium Military airbases established in 1940 Steenokkerzeel

History

See also

References