Grimbergen Recreational Airfield
Posted by: 
sven1965
N 50° 56.901 E 004° 23.719
31U E 598015 N 5645008
Small airfield for recreational flying.
Waymark Code: WM4FD2
Location: Belgium
Date Posted: 08/17/2008
Views: 78
This airfield dates from september 1939, built by Belgian military as backup for Melsbroek.
Early May 1940, a few squadrons of Fairy Fox and Fiat CR.42 made use of it, but they could not stand up to the German Luftwaffe. On May 18th, it allready fell in the hands of the enemy. From this airfield, the Luftwaffe made trips to the UK to make photos and measurements of the weather conditions.
The airfield was liberated on September 3rd, 1944, by the Allied Forces. Three days later, 122 Wing (RAF code B-60) was based in Grimbergen. With their Mustangs they had to make life difficult for the supply chain and retreat actions of the Germans. Late 1944, a Norwegian 132 Wing was based here with Spitfires. From May 1945 onwards, it was used by the US military as stock for Shermantanks and other equipment before being sold or sent back.
Mid-1946 was the beginning of the civilian use of this airfield. The authorities decided to use it pure for recreational flying, so the small airplanes did not have to make use of Melsbroek anymore.
In November 1947, two unique round hangars were taken in use to stock the airplanes. These round, concrete constructions are still in use.
Since 1989, the Grimbergen airfield is pure for recreational use.
What can be seen on the webcam is a big white 'T' that marks the direction of the (grass) runway (01-19, 614x30 m, ARP 21m)
The webcam is placed in the Control Tower, looking South-West. The yellow strip on the red square you can see in the left corner near the 'T' indicates North-South axis.
Public or Private?: Public
Web Site URL: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
Updated October 3, 2011:
Your log needs to include a picture taken from the web camera with you in the field of vision. You may need to recruit some help from someone else on a computer while you are at the web camera.