Uploaded July 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
In the woods near Venlo, you can find the dark remains of a “Fliegerhorst”. This airfield of the German Luftwaffe contained more than a hundred hangars. It was mainly used by night fighters.
Between October 1940 and March 1941, the airfield was expanded by the Germans into a complex of 1,075 hectares in total on the territory of the Dutch municipality of Venlo and the current German municipalities of Nettetal and Straelen. The complex with three runways was equipped with the most modern safety installations, radio equipment and night lighting with 2,000 lamps. A network of roads with a total length of 48 kilometers was located on the airfield.
The site contained more than a hundred hangars, including a workshop hangar, 20 heated hangars, 37 unheated brick hangars and 42 unheated arch hangars. There were also shelters, workshops, casinos (officers' quarters with facilities for eating, bathing, studying and recreation), football and tennis courts.
More than 2,000 people worked at Venlo-Herongen air base, including 350 Dutch and approximately 1,800 Germans.
On 3 September 1944 , however, the runways were completely destroyed in a coordinated action by hundreds of British aircraft. Demolition units of the retreating Germans then blew up almost all buildings and hangars.
After the Germans left, the Americans took over the airbase and renamed it Yankee 55.
In the woods near Venlo, you can find the dark remains of a “Fliegerhorst”. This airfield of the German Luftwaffe contained more than a hundred hangars. It was mainly used by night fighters.
Between October 1940 and March 1941, the airfield was expanded by the Germans into a complex of 1,075 hectares in total on the territory of the Dutch municipality of Venlo and the current German municipalities of Nettetal and Straelen. The complex with three runways was equipped with the most modern safety installations, radio equipment and night lighting with 2,000 lamps. A network of roads with a total length of 48 kilometers was located on the airfield.
The site contained more than a hundred hangars, including a workshop hangar, 20 heated hangars, 37 unheated brick hangars and 42 unheated arch hangars. There were also shelters, workshops, casinos (officers' quarters with facilities for eating, bathing, studying and recreation), football and tennis courts.
More than 2,000 people worked at Venlo-Herongen air base, including 350 Dutch and approximately 1,800 Germans.
On 3 September 1944 , however, the runways were completely destroyed in a coordinated action by hundreds of British aircraft. Demolition units of the retreating Germans then blew up almost all buildings and hangars.
After the Germans left, the Americans took over the airbase and renamed it Yankee 55.
