Oostakker

51°05'50"N 003°48'00"E

Runway - ??? - grass
Runway - ??? - grass

Oostakker Airfield (vliegveld Oostakker) was an airfield northeast of Ghent (Gent).
The airfield was built in 1917, and opened that July. It is known to have had Bomber Staffel (Bosta) 17 assigned. Possibly one or more Kampf Staffeln were also at the airfield. 
After the end of World War I the airfield was closed.

In the 1930s the former airfield was used as a location to store large quantities of sand from the dredging of the Sifferdok in the port of Ghent. During World War II the Germans used a small part of the former airfield as an execution camp. 

After World War II the dredged sands (and the sands below it) were quarried. As a result of this, the airfield is still easily recognisable. Although so far it has not been confirmed, it is generally believed that the cross-like runway shapes in the terrain are indeed the locations of the former runways. The terrain is officially known as 'sandpit the airfield at Lochristi and Oostakker (Ghent)' (dutch: "Zandontginning 't Vliegveld te Lochristi en Oostakker (Gent)").


the location of the Oostakker airfield in 2009, 92 years after it was built (Google Earth)

Thank you to Jan Gillegot for pointing out this airfield!