De Mok

52°25'45"N 005°40'27"E

Runway - Mok Bay, Texel
Runway - Grass , Texel

Naval Flying Camp 'De Mok' (Dutch: Marinevliegkamp "De mok") was a Naval Flying Camp of the Marine Luchtvaartdienst (MLD) on the island of Texel.
It was an Air Station for sea planes and located in the southwestern part of Texel known as Mok Bay (Dutch: De Mokbaai).It was officially activated on 21 August 1917.  
Navy personnel of the MLD were first trained as aviators at Soesterberg Air Base, after which they completed their water flying training at 'De Mok'. This lasted until October of 1918 when NAS De Kooy was taken into service and the training moved from Soesterberg to 'De Kooy'. 'De Mok' proved to be less suitable as a Flying Camp, after which the land-based aircraft also moved to 'De Kooy'.


De Mok (Texel), 1919. Italian Macchi flying boats arrive at De Mok in preparation for a flying display at ELTA in Amsterdam.

Naval Flying Camp De Mok at Texel ca. 1924 (Photo: collection Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie).

De Mok (Texel) ca 1938

A Fokker C-VIII W heavy reconnaissance aircraft (1930-1940) slips down the slipway of Marinevliegkamp "De Mok", Texel in 1936. (Photo: collection Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie).

Damage to the hangars at Naval Flying Camp De Mok after a German air strike in May 1940 (Photo: collection Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie).

During World War-II the camp was used by the German occupying forces as a FLAK camp. The camp was also involved in the Uprising of the Georgians (Dutch: Opstand van de Georgiërs, Georgian: ტექსელის აჯანყება). Georgians serving the Wehrmacht began a revolt against the Wehrmacht on 6 April 1945 which did not end until 20 May 1945, two weeks after the end of World War II. Texel became known as the "last battlefield in Europe".

After the war the Flying Camp was found fully destroyed and it was not to be rebuilt as the role of flying boats was clearly over. 'De Mok' is still in military use however. The NL Marine Corps uses this part of Texel as 'Joost Dourlein-barracks' to do practice landings for the basic training of Marines.

De Mok (Texel) 2009. No trace of the old Flying Camp can be recognised (photo taken from Bing.com).