Ursel Air Base is a joint public/military airport located 10.2 km southwest of Eeklo near

Ursel Ursel is a Flemish surname: Place Ursel, town in Flanders, part of Knesselare. Name * Noble house d'Ursel, Duke of Ursel, see too: D'Ursel Castle. ** Lancelot II of Ursel ** Charles-Joseph, 4th Duke d'Ursel ** Marie Joseph Charles, 6th Duke d ...

East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van O ...

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 ...

History

The airfield was established in the summer 1939 for the

Belgian Air Force 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 ...

. The 14th Company Aviation-Auxiliary laid down a grass landing strip 2,950 feet (900 meters) long. On 11 May 1940, Belgian Air Force moved here Fairey Foxes and Renard R16s for attacking the German invaders. Five days later the airfield was bombed the first time by Germans, that occupied the badly damaged base on 27 May. After the

Battle of Belgium The invasion of Belgium or Belgian campaign (10–28 May 1940), often referred to within Belgium as the 18 Days' Campaign (french: Campagne des 18 jours, nl, Achttiendaagse Veldtocht), formed part of the greater Battle of France, an Military o ...

was over, it was taken over by the

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 ...

and used as an airfield during the occupation period. In July 1940, the runway was re-laid in concrete and hangars and operational buildings restored. In autumn 1940, Germans assigned the airfield to the

Corpo Aereo Italiano The ''Corpo Aereo Italiano'' (literally, "Italian Air Corps"), or CAI, was an expeditionary force from the Italian ''Regia Aeronautica'' (Italian Royal Air Force) that participated in the Battle of Britain and the Blitz during the final months o ...

, the air corps sent by

Regia Aeronautica The Italian Royal Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was abolis ...

for operations against Britain. Ursel was the base of 18° ''Gruppo'', equipped with 50

Fiat CR.42 The Fiat CR.42 ''Falco'' ("Falcon", plural: ''Falchi'') is a single-seat sesquiplane fighter developed and produced by Italian aircraft manufacturer Fiat Aviazione. It served primarily in the Italian in the 1930s and during the Second World ...

fighters, that arrived on 19 October.Haining 2005, p. 55. Italian occupation created a diplomatic break between Italy and the

Belgian government in exile The Belgian Government in London (french: Gouvernement belge à Londres, nl, Belgische regering in Londen), also known as the Pierlot IV Government, was the government in exile of Belgium between October 1940 and September 1944 during World W ...

which led to a Belgian offensive against

Italian East Africa Italian East Africa ( it, Africa Orientale Italiana, AOI) was an Italian colony in the Horn of Africa. It was formed in 1936 through the merger of Italian Somalia, Italian Eritrea, and the newly occupied Ethiopian Empire, conquered in the Seco ...

. The area was liberated by

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

forces in September 1944, and

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

converted the airfield to

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 ...

use, designating the field as Advanced Landing Ground B-67. Four squadrons of Hawker Typhoon fighter-bombers operated from the field, their mission being to break the resistance of German troops at the Dutch island of

Walcheren Walcheren () is a region and former island in the Dutch province of Zeeland at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Eastern Scheldt in the north and the Western Scheldt in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus. The two ...

, which controlled the entrance to the harbours of

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

. Once the entrance to Antwerp was cleared, the RAF moved out and the airfield was abandoned. Ursel was used during Exercise Reforger 76 in August/September of that year for the re-assembly of United States based US Army helicopters arriving by ship into

Zeebrugge Zeebrugge (, from: ''Brugge aan zee'' meaning "Bruges at Sea", french: Zeebruges) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zeeb ...

for onward deployment to Kitzingen, Germany. Ursel remains a reserve base for the Belgian Air Component. It is available for civilian recreational use during weekends, and hosts two aeroclubs.

Bibliography

* Haining, Peter ''The Chianti Raiders The Extraordinary Story of the Italian Air Force in the Battle of Britain'' London Robson 2005

References

Ursel - ALG B.67
* 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

Ursel Flying Club

Airport record for Ursel Air Base
at Landings.com {{authority control Belgian airbases Airports in East Flanders World War II airfields in Belgium Airports established in 1935

History

Bibliography

See also

References

External links