Havelte

52°47'01"N 006°14'14"E

Runway 09/27 - 1400x80 - brick

Airfield Havelte (Dutch: Vliegveld Havelte, German: Fliegerhorst Havelte) was an airfield 100kilometer notrheast of Amsterdam
In the fall of 1942 the German occupying forces decided to construct a new military airfield north of the town of Havelte. It was built as a German airfield in occupied Holland, along with the associated installations and buildings (a so-called Fliegerhorst).
The purpose was to replace the failed airfield at Peest and it was supposed to handle every aircraft type. Construction was by forced labour and building materials were brought in via the nearby Drentse Hoofdvaart canal. Further transport was done by mandatory but paid assistance from local farmers and their horse and carriage.

Although some fighters did fly from it, the Fliegerhorst never became operational as the Allied forces were kept well informed about its progress by Drenthe spies such as Jan Poortman. The Fliegerhorst was bombed in the night of 16 and 17 September 1944 by 26 English Lancaster bombers and again on 24 March 1945, at 9.00AM, by 114 American Boeing B-17 bombers.


Allied map of Fliegerhorst Havelte (1944)

Aerial photo of Havelte, taken around 1944 (NIMH)

After the war, the airfield was not rebuilt. The site is now a nature preserve, but bombcraters and other traces like revetments are still visible.

Havelte in 2009.

(Thanks to mr Jaap Woortman of the Documentation Group Volkel for getting me on the right track on some facts about Havelte).