Deelen military airfield

Militair Luchtvaart Terrein Deelen
Characteristics
ICAO code	EHDL
Coordinates	52 ° 3 '33 "  N , 5 ° 52' 38"  E Coordinates: 52 ° 3 '33 "  N , 5 ° 52' 38"  E
Height above MSL	48 m (157  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	8 km north of Arnhem
Street	5 km to the A 50
Basic data
opening	1913
operator	Dutch Air Force
Start-and runway
02/20	2950 m × 50 m concrete / asphalt

The Militair Luchtvaart Terrein Deelen is a military airfield of the Dutch Air Force ( KLu ). The base is located in the province of Gelderland south of the municipality of Deelen north of Arnhem . It serves the Dutch armed forces in particular as a training ground for helicopter pilots of the helicopter squadrons stationed in Gilze-Rijen .

history

The airfield in Deelen was built in 1913 as a base for reconnaissance flights along the German-Dutch border.

During the Second World War, Deelen airfield was occupied by the Wehrmacht air force from 1940 to 1944. Ahead of Operation Market Garden , the airfield was heavily damaged by Allied air raids, so Deelen in future only as an external pad and launch site of "V1" - cruise missiles were used. The last V1s were shot down on April 15, 1945, just before the airfield was occupied by Canadian troops.

The following table shows a list of selected active flying units (excluding school and supplementary units) of the Wehrmacht Air Force that were stationed here between 1940 and 1944.

From	To	unit	equipment
September 1940	May 1941	II./NJG 1 (II. Group of Night Fighter Squadron 1)	Messerschmitt Bf 110
July 1942	March 1943	III./KG 2 ( III.Group of Kampfgeschwader 2)	Dornier Do 217E-2
March 1943	March 1943	I./KG 6	Junkers Ju 88A-14
June 1943	July 1943	III./JG 54 ( III.Group of Jagdgeschwader 54)	Messerschmitt Bf 109G-4 , Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6
July 1943	August 1943	II./JG 26	Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-4 , Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-5
June 1944	June 1944	I./NJG 6	Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4
September 1944	September 1944	Staff, II./KG 6	Junkers Ju 88A-4, Junkers Ju 88A-14

"V1" in the Air Force Base Museum

After the war, it was not until 1950 that the Koninklijke Luchtmacht decided to reactivate the base as an airfield in view of the approaching Cold War .

For the next three decades, Deelen was home to only two squadrons, each equipped with a number of different liaison aircraft and helicopters, before the airfield was closed a few years after the end of the Cold War in 1995. As a result, the base was only temporarily reactivated for training flights by helicopter crews, the top surface of the runway was removed during this time. After the Soesterberg base was closed and all KLu helicopter squadrons were concentrated in Gilze-Rijen in 2008, the use of Deelen was intensified and the main runway restored.

In the base is the Museum Airbase Deelen, in which part of the exhibition is dedicated to the aerial warfare during the Second World War.

Web links

Commons : Deelen Air Base  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-1945, the Nederlands , pp 6-7 , accessed on 26 December 2019
2. ^ Museum Airbase Deelen