Lieutenant General Best Barracks

Lieutenant General Best Barracks (Dutch: Luitenant-generaal Bestkazerne), formerly De Peel Air Base (Dutch: Luchtmachtbasis De Peel), is a Royal Netherlands Army guided missile base in the Netherlands. It currently has only one, though not actively used, runway.

Lieutenant General Best Barracks

Luitenant-generaal Bestkazerne

Advanced Landing Ground B-84

Luchtmachtbasis De Peel
TRML-3D/32 Surveillance and Target Acquisition Radar System
Summary
Airport typeMilitary
OperatorRoyal Netherlands Army
LocationVenray
Elevation AMSL98 ft / 30 m
Coordinates51°31′34″N 005°51′34″E
Map
EHDP
Location of Lieutenant General Best Barracks
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
06/24 9,803 2,988 Concrete/Asphalt

History
Open Street Map of the base.

In June 1944 the German Luftwaffe constructed the first airfield near the town of De Rips, consisting of a single 1400 meters long and 75 meters wide grass strip. The airfield did not see much use by the retreating German forces and was later briefly used in October 1944 by the Royal Canadian Air Force 126 wing as an Advanced Landing Ground (designated B-84). It was not located on the site of the current air base, but about 8 kilometers to the north-west of it. There are no visible remains of it today.[1]

The air base was founded as a diversion airfield in 1954 with two parallel runways (06L/24R and 06R/24L) and never served as an active base for aircraft, seeing only incidental usage from the aerial photo reconnaissance unit from nearby Volkel Air Base, even though the base was expanded in 1973 for possible NATO use. In 1993 it was closed as an operational airfield and became the home base of the Royal Netherlands Air Force guided missile division (Groep Geleide Wapens, or GGW). One runway remained however, though it is no longer actively used by the military. The base is used for glider flying however. Military aerial exercises also take place in its airspace.[2]

In March 2012 it was decided as part of a reorganisation to transfer control of the base from the Royal Netherlands Air Force to the Royal Netherlands Army, resulting in a name change to Lieutenant General Best Barracks (Dutch: Luitenant-generaal Bestkazerne). However, it is still commonly referred to as De Peel.[3][4]

Units

The following units are based at Vredepeel:[5][6]

  • Joint Ground-based Air Defense Command
    • 800 Support Squadron ("800 Ondersteuningssquadron")
      • Communication and Information Systems Flight ("CIS-vlucht")
      • Logistics Flight ("Logistieke vlucht")
      • Force Protection Flight ("Force Protection-vlucht")
    • 802 Patriot Squadron ("802 Patriot-squadron")
      • Command and Control Flight("Commandovoeringsvlucht")
      • 3x Patriot flights ("Patriot-vlucht"), with Patriot long range surface-to-air missiles
      • Logistics Flight ("Logistieke vlucht")
    • 13th Air Defense Battery "Ypenburg" ("13 Luchtverdedigingsbatterij Ypenburg")
    • Instruction and Training Center ("Opleidings- en Trainingscentrum")
    • Ground-based Air- and Missile Defense Expertise Center ("Kenniscentrum Grondgebonden Lucht- en Raketverdediging")

References
  1. Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields - Noord Brabant, the Netherlands - De Rips Archived 2012-09-01 at the Wayback Machine, article retrieved April 10, 2013.
  2. Zaken, Ministerie van Algemene (2019-06-27). "Vliegbasis De Peel weer in gebruik - Defensieterreinen - Rijksoverheid.nl". www.rijksoverheid.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2020-11-02.
  3. NOTAM as an example of continued usage of De Peel: EHDP VENRAY/DE PEEL - M0432/13 - TEMPORARY SPECIAL RULES ZONE 'DE PEEL A' ACTIVATED FOR MIL EXER 'FTX NIVEAU 2'. [ ... ] DAILY 0700-1400, 16 APR 07:00 2013 UNTIL 18 APR 14:00 2013. CREATED: 02 APR 07:20 2013
  4. Aeronautical chart as an example of continued usage of De Peel: Skyvector.com - Aeronautical Chart of the Netherlands, map retrieved April 10, 2013.
  5. "Defensie Grondgebonden Luchtverdedigingscommando". Royal Netherlands Army. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  6. "Eenheden Defensie Grondgebonden Luchtverdedigingscommando". Royal Netherlands Army. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
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