Schaffen Air Base is a

Belgian Air Force The Belgian Air Component ( nl, Luchtcomponent, french: Composante air) is the air arm of the Belgian Armed Forces, and until January 2002 it was officially known as the Belgian Air Force ( nl, Belgische Luchtmacht; french: Force aérienne belg ...

Base, located north-northeast of

Diest Diest () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. Situated in the northeast of the Hageland region, Diest neighbours the provinces of Antwerp to its North, and Limburg to the East and is situated aroun ...

Flemish Brabant Flemish Brabant ( nl, Vlaams-Brabant ; french: Brabant flamand ) is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hai ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. The airfield is currently the Training Center for Parachutists (TrgC Para) of the Belgian ParaCommandos.

History

Origins

Schaffen Air Base was originally established about 1914 by the invading

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (german: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The

Imperial German Air Service Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Te ...

(Die Fliegertruppen) used it as an airfield before withdrawing in November 1918 after the Armistice with Germany.

Battle of Belgium

Between the wars, the airfield was a major base for the Belgian Air Force. In early 1940, about half of the Belgian Air Force, were stationed there prior to the

Battle of Belgium The invasion of Belgium or Belgian campaign (10–28 May 1940), often referred to within Belgium as the 18 Days' Campaign (french: Campagne des 18 jours, nl, Achttiendaagse Veldtocht), formed part of the greater Battle of France, an offensive ...

in May. On the early morning of 10 May, the alarm was sounded, and the pilots at Schaffen Air Base went to their aircraft, thinking it was an exercise. A few minutes later, 50 unidentified aircraft flew over the airfield. At 04:20am Belgian Hawker Hurricanes at the airfield started their engines. 12 minutes later, three Luftwaffe Heinkel He-111s were spotted, not troubled by AAA fire. The 111s strafed the airfield several times. The Belgian aircraft tried to take off through the explosions and fires. Minutes later Me-110s and Dornier Do-17s strafed and bombed the airfield. Four Hurricanes were set on fire, and 6 others were damaged. The roof of the hangar fell in and the aircraft in it were destroyed. By 5:30 AM, only five aircraft remained operational, two Hawker Hurricanes and three Glosters. After the attack, the survivors were flown off and the airfield abandoned.

Luftwaffe use

During the German occupation of Belgium,

Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 ''Sturzkampfgeschwader'' 1 (StG 1 - Dive Bomber Wing 1) was a Luftwaffe dive bomber wing during World War II. StG 1 was formed in May 1939 and remained active until October 1943, when it was renamed and reorganised into Schlachtgeschwad ...

(StG 1) formed at Schaffen as Erg.Staffel/St.G.1. It operated Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers from the field, attacking British shipping in the English Channel. The Stukas, however, suffered significant losses against RAF fighters over the channel and were withdrawn in August to bases in the Balkans. For the remainder of the occupation, Schaffen was a non-combat airfield of the Flughafen-Bereichs-Kommando 22/XI (Airport-area command 22/XI).

Royal Air Force use

The British Army moved through the Diest area, clearing the occupying German forces north into The Netherlands. Royal Engineers moved into the airfield and it was re-designated as Advanced Landing Ground B-64. It is unknown which RAF units used the field until the German Capitulation in May 1945. Casualties of British 1st Airborne Division (and others) from Operation Market Garden (Arnhem) were evacuated by 93 (Airborne) Composite Company RASC 1st Airborne Division (sometimes under heavy enemy fire) from Diest in September 1944.

Postwar use

After the war Schaffen became the location of the EVS (Elementary Flying School, or in Dutch: Elementaire Vliegschool). In 1950 the EVS left for Air Base Goetsenhoven however. Schaffen Air Base has also been the home of the Training Center for Parachutists (TrgC Para) of the Belgian ParaCommandos since 1946.

References

Sturzkampfgeschwader 1

* 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.

External links

Photo of damaged Hurricane after 10 May 1940 Luftwaffe raid
{{authority control Belgian airbases World War II airfields in Belgium Airports established in 1914 Airports in Flemish Brabant