Panel 2A Flugplatz Katwijk

In the spring and summer of 1940, the Germans quickly prepared the airfield for flight operations. The hangars were quickly completed, and runways and parking areas were constructed.

Cleaning up and building up

The first task after the battle in May 1940 was to remove the Junkers that were still in need of repair, clear the wrecks and repair the battle damage. Of the 57 Junkers at Valkenburg, 23 were destroyed. Damaged but still usable aircraft were partly dismantled on the spot. They were transported by lorry to the Oude Rijn in the village of Valkenburg, where the Junkers were loaded onto barges. From there they were transported by water to Schiphol Airport or to The Hague.

The Luftwaffe desperately needed the Dutch airfields for its next objective: an invasion of England. But before that could happen, the Royal Air Force (RAF) had to be defeated. The airfields were made ready as soon as possible after the capitulation of the Netherlands.

As early as June, Germans from special units, Luftwaffen-Bau-Bataillons, were sent to Valkenburg. They first completed the drainage system so that runways could be built. The Germans contracted Dutch companies to supply and transport sand from the dunes. Dutch workers were also used for this work.

Runways

Soon three narrow runways were built in the shape of a capital A. The longest was made of wooden planks and was 1300 metres long. A second was also made of wood and was 1050 metres long. A third runway of 900 metres long was made of concrete. Paving stones were used for the taxiways. These taxiways circled the airfield and connected the parking areas to the runways. The map shows where the parking areas were located.

The runways were clearly visible from the air. To camouflage them somewhat, the runways were covered with tarred wood wool. This was painted green. This made it more difficult to distinguish the runways from the grass from the air.

The airfield site was immediately extended in the spring of 1940. This made room for aircraft parking areas. The Messerschmitts that arrived in the autumn of that year were parked between earthen walls to protect them from shrapnel from bomb shrapnel. Camouflage nets were stretched over the small parking areas to hide the aircraft from view. Larger parking areas were also built with camouflaged roofs.

Flugplatz or Fliegerhorst?

When the airfield was still under construction in 1939 and 1940, it was called Valkenburg Airfield or Airpark. This was chosen because most of the area was in the municipality of Valkenburg. After the surrender in May 1940, the German occupiers chose the name Flugplatz Katwijk.

The Luftwaffe called its important bases Fliegerhorste. Katwijk was of secondary importance and had to make do with the title Flugplatz. Nevertheless, you will find the name Fliegerhorst in some serious sources for Katwijk.

The construction of the hangars

The five hangars were not completed on 10 May 1940. Only one hangar was almost complete. The Hollandsche Beton Maatschappij (HBM), who were building them at the time, finished them for the Germans. The five photos below were taken in the spring of 1940, before the German invasion.