Voorburg

52°04'26"N 004°20'23"E

Runway - n/a - dirt/grass

Airstrip Voorburg was an airfield just outside Voorburg, a suburb of The Hague in the Netherlands.
The airfield started on 26 May 1945 when the commander of 6 Dutch Auster Squadron at Gilze Rijen Air Base commandeered the use of a small sportscomplex between Voorburg and the The Hague-Utrecht railway line. Around the same time similar air strips were set up at Amsterdam (Stadionkade) and Zeist. The airfield was quickly turned into a small airbase by converting local buildings into support facilities. Aircraft were parked immediately next to the road, obviously drawing much attention from local residents.

The emergency airstrip at Hoekwaterstraat in Voorburg in May 1945 with a number of Austers of 6 (Dutch) Auster Squadron
(Photo: Wouter van Gool via collection Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie)

The unit soon began to grow, with crews consisting of war volunteers and pre-war air force personnel. The airfield was used to provide a means of communication between the government seat in The Hague and the rest of the country. Because the German occupation had left much of the country's infrastructure destroyed or even completely stolen, air transport provided a fast and reliable means of communication. Pilots were often send out with minimal means on trips that took them across the nation, and even abroad, for several days. The unit's functions were slowly being taken over by the Netherlands Governement Air Transport Service (KLM really, but under a government sponsored guise). Their DH Dominies were too large for this airfield however, and the airfield had no room to expand. 
When the English announced their withdrawal from Valkenburg air field later that year it became available to the Auster squadron. The airstrip closed on or shortly after 11 December 1945.

Today the area is completely built over by the A-12 motorway between The Hague and Utrecht. Nothing remains of the former airstrip.


The area of the airstrip in 2008, nothing remains of the airfield or the sports complex (Google Earth)