Waasmunster

51°07'37"N 004°03'49"E

Runway: 03/21 - 1300m - grass
Runway: NW/SE - 750m - grass

Airfield Waasmunster (Dutch: vliegveld Waasmunster, also known as vliegveld 37 or vliegveld Belsele) was a small auxiliary mililtary airfield west of Antwerp in Belgium.
It was constructed by the Belgian Air Force in 1939 as a grass field capable of being used as an airfield. It was intended as a dispersal airfield for Fairy Battles operating from Evere airfield, 11 of which actually did use it during the 10 May 1940 German invasion. They were attacked by He111s of KG27 upon landing however, putting one Battle out of action. With the airfield discovered by the Luftwaffe, it was abandoned for auxiliary airfield 26 (Aalter) only a few hours later.

When the German invaders took control of the airfield, they upgraded it with concrete taxitracks, at least one hangar and a watch building. It is not known if any units ever used the field. The airfield was blocked by obstacles when Allied forces seized the airfield in 1944. It was not listed on the list of Allied Advanced Landing Grounds.

After the war it was briefly (until October 1945) used by the RAF's N°3 Base Recoverey Unit for the disassembly of crashed aircraft. Following their departure the airfield was used to store army vehicles.

Today, the airfield is returned to its original agricultural use. Some remnants remain however, such as the sentry building, concrete taxi tracks, and parts of a hangar. All are on private property though and in use by a horse breeding station.
The local adresses still refer to the airfield, as the street is known as "Oud Vliegveld" ("Old Aerodrome").


Overview of the former airfield in April 2007 (Google Earth).


Former sentry building, now a family home (Vlaams Instituut voor het Onroerend Erfgoed).


Former hangar, now a storage facility (Vlaams Instituut voor het Onroerend Erfgoed).