Koksijde 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 Koksijde, north northwest of Veurne,

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 ...

. 40 Squadron, historically operating 5 Westland Sea King Mk.48 helicopters for

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

(SAR) duties. Also based at Koksijde Air Base were Aérospatiale Alouette III helicopters. The Westland Sea King Mk.48 and Alouette III helicopters were replaced with NH90 NFH helicopters starting in March 2012. It features two airframes as gateguard: a

Hawker Hunter F.4 The following is a list of variants of the Hawker Hunter fighter aircraft: Prototypes ;Hawker P.1067 :Prototype, first flight 20 July 1951, three built with the first later modified as a Hunter Mk 3 for the successful World Speed Record attem ...

, and a Sikorsky S-58C, both ex-Belgian Air Force. Finally, one more Sikorsky S-58C is stored and used for static displays. This base was featured in the popular TV show "Windkracht 10" and in the movie '' Windkracht 10: Koksijde Rescue''. Like many Belgian Air bases, both active and non-active, it is available to private recreational aviation during weekends.West Aviation Club
/ref> 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 ...

, the base was used 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 ...

. In 1942, one of their assignments was fighter protection for the German battleships ''

Scharnhorst Gerhard Johann David von Scharnhorst (12 November 1755 – 28 June 1813) was a Hanoverian-born general in Prussian service from 1801. As the first Chief of the Prussian General Staff, he was noted for his military theories, his reforms of the Pru ...

'' and '' Gneisenau'' and the heavy cruiser '' Prinz Eugen'', when these ships successfully broke out from Brest, in France, through the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

to Germany. One of the Luftwaffe pilots based at Koksijde who was involved was Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, who eventually became the highest-scoring night fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare.

References

External links

Koksijde Air Base - WikiAirports

Airports established in 1915 Belgian airbases Airports in West Flanders Koksijde {{europe-airport-stub

See also

References

External links