Lieutenant General Best Barracks


Lieutenant General Best Barracks, formerly De Peel Air Base, is a Royal [Netherlands Army] guided missile base in the Netherlands. It has only one, though not actively used, runway.

History

During World War II in June 1944 the German Luftwaffe constructed the first airfield near the town of De Rips, consisting of a single long and 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. It was not located on the site of the current air base, but about to the north-west of it. There are no visible remains of it today.
The air base was founded as a diversion airfield in 1954 with two parallel runways 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. One runway remained, though it is no longer actively used by the military. The base is used for glider flying. Military aerial exercises also take place in its airspace.
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. It is still commonly referred to as De Peel.

Units

The following units are based at Vredepeel: