Zutendaal Air Base is a reserve

Belgian Air Component The Belgian Air and Space Component (, ) is the Air force, air arm of the Belgian Armed Forces, and until January 2002 it was officially known as the Belgian Air Force (; ). It was founded in 1909 and is one of the world's oldest air services. ...

base, located east-southeast of

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

(Limburg), approximately east-northeast of

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Overview

The base is in reserve status, its primary use being to store retired

Agusta Agusta was an Italian helicopter manufacturer. It was based in Samarate, Northern Italy. The company was founded by Count Giovanni Agusta in 1923, who flew his first aeroplane in 1907. The MV Agusta motorcycle manufacturer began as an offshoot ...

helicopters. Since 2009, it has been open to limited civilian recreational flying; it is home to a gliding club, operating on the weekends.

History

Origins

Zutendaal Air Base's origins date to March 1917 when it was originally constructed by the German Army Air Corps as "Flieger Schießschule". it was established for observers destined for artillery units. Near this airfield, the Germans selected a large heath area (between Houthalen, Genk, As, Peer and Opglabbeek) where they installed a firing range. After World War I, the name of the airfield was changed to Asch (as it was spelled at the time) and it became the Flying School of the Belgian Military Aviation, later in March 1920 called Aéronautique Militaire. Situated 2 km SW of the town centre of As, this school had a large 1100 by 800 metres grass airfield at its disposal and several metal hangars and brick support buildings. After the Flying School was abandoned in 1924, the airfield was closed to make room for the proposed construction of a canal, and moved to

Wevelgem Wevelgem () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Gullegem, Moorsele and Wevelgem proper. On January 1, 2006, Wevelgem had a total populatio ...

, the field gradually became a dense wooded area.

World War II

Temporary USAAF Buildings at Asch Airfield Belgium 1945

In November 1944 a new airfield near the World War I

aerodrome An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes inc ...

was constructed by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

IX Engineer Command, 852nd and 846th Engineer Aviation Battalions. Known as Advanced Landing Ground "Y-29", the airfield consisted of a single 5000 foot (1500m)

Sod Sod is the upper layer of turf that is harvested for transplanting. Turf consists of a variable thickness of a soil medium that supports a community of turfgrasses. In British and Australian English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', ...

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

aligned 06/24. In addition, tents were erected for billeting and also for support facilities; an access road was built to the existing road infrastructure; a dump was created for supplies, ammunition, and gasoline drums, along with a drinkable water; and a minimal electrical grid for communications and station lighting was installed. Asch was home to

North American P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in 1940 by a team headed by James H. Kin ...

s of the

352nd Fighter Group The 352nd Fighter Group was a unit of the Eighth Air Force that was located in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. The unit served as bomber escort, counter-air patrols, and attacking ground targets. It initially flew P-47 T ...

, Eighth Air Force (which included the 328th Fighter Squadron, led by

George Preddy George Earl Preddy Jr. (February 5, 1919 – December 25, 1944) was a United States Army Air Forces officer during World War II and an American ace credited with 26.83 enemy air-to-air kills (a number that includes shared one-half and one-third ...

); and

P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter, and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...

s from

366th Fighter Group 366th may refer to: * 366th Bombardment Squadron, inactive United States Air Force unit * 366th Division (IDF), also known as the "Path of Fire" Division, a reserve armored division of the IDF * 366th Fighter Squadron, inactive United States Air Fo ...

, Ninth Air Force, from 19 November 1944 – 11 April 1945. The

406th Fighter Group 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the H ...

, also flew from the airfield in P-47s from 8 February – 15 April 1945. The fighter planes flew support missions, patrolling roads in front of the beachhead;

strafing Strafing is the military practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. Less commonly, the term is used by extension to describe high-speed firing runs by any land or naval craft such a ...

German military vehicles and dropping bombs on gun emplacements, anti-aircraft artillery and concentrations of German troops when spotted.Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. . On January 1, 1945, Asch airfield was the site of a major aerial battle during the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

Operation Bodenplatte Operation Bodenplatte (; "Baseplate"), launched on 1 January 1945, was an attempt by the German Luftwaffe to cripple Allies of World War II, Allied air forces in the Low Countries during the World War II, Second World War. The goal of ''Bodenpl ...

. The Fw 190s and Bf 109s of JG-11 arrived at Asch just as the 487th FS of the 352nd FG were rolling down the runway, the ensuing battle came to be known as the Legend of Y-29 and encapsulated the failure of Operation Bodenplatte as a whole. The pilots of the 487th Fighter Squadron who took off did so under fire and in the face of overwhelming odds. The 487th scored 23 kills while suffering only 2 damaged aircraft in the face of 3:1 odds. For their performance the 487th received the only

Distinguished Unit Citation The Presidential Unit Citation (PUC), originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the uniformed services of the United States, and those of allied countries, for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed e ...

given to a fighter squadron in the European theatre. When the fighter units moved out, the

391st Bombardment Group 391st may refer to: * 391st Bombardment Group, non-flying unit of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, stationed at Horsham Air National Guard Station * 391st Bombardment Squadron, part of the 6th Air Mobility Wing at MacDill Air Force Base, Florid ...

flew

B-26 Marauder The Martin B-26 Marauder is an American twin-engined medium bomber that saw extensive service during World War II. The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska, by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in t ...

medium bombers from the airfield until 27 May 1945. With the end of the war in Europe, the airfield was closed on 20 June 1945.

Belgian Air Force

After the war, the airfield was taken over by the

Belgian Air Force The Belgian Air and Space Component (, ) is the Air force, air arm of the Belgian Armed Forces, and until January 2002 it was officially known as the Belgian Air Force (; ). It was founded in 1909 and is one of the world's oldest air services. ...

. It was later rebuilt into a permanent facility with hard surfaced runways and support buildings. Currently it is used by the

Belgian Army The Land Component (, ), historically and commonly still referred to as the Belgian Army (, ), is the Land warfare, land branch of the Belgian Armed Forces. The King of the Belgians is the commander in chief. The current chief of staff of the Land ...

as a storage depot.Johnson, David C. (1988), U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO), D-Day to V-E Day; Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.

References

External links

The Wartime Memories Project - Y29 Asch

Asch Airdrome
{{authority control Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Belgium World War II airfields in Belgium Belgian airbases Airports established in 1917 Airports in Limburg (Belgium)