Botgat

52°52'07"N 004°42'37"E

runway: Circular 95 meters across - concrete

Botgat firing range was an air defense artillery range located south of Den Helder.
From 1957 it was used to train crews of Anti-Aircraft Artillery (lastly Bofors 40L70/Flycatcher combinations and PRTL ("Cheetah" or "Gepard") Anti-Aircraft Tanks) during live firing exercises. It consisted of a fairly large platform on which about 10 Anti-aircraft guns could be placed to shoot at aerial targets flying over the nearby North Sea beach. The targets were Northrop MQM-33 drones (operated and maintained by Schreiner Air Services) that were initially launched from a circular runway, while attached to a pole in the center. After reaching their launch speed the aircraft would be released from the pole and take off.


MQM-33 on the circular runway with the wire attached to the launching pole

The circular runway was replaced by a launchrail fitted on a truck in the 1990s. The shooting range was last used in 2005, and since the area has been cleared of all objects and returned to nature.


Firing exercise by RNLAF 620 Squadron at shooting range Botgat in 1999 or 2000

Shooting range Botgat just after it closed in 2005 (Google Earth)