The second Antwerp airport : Mortsel

The site of the Wilrijckse Plein was used by the Germans during the First World War to store their Tauben and Albatrosses.

In October 1918, less than a month before the end of the war, the Imperial German Navy built a new airfield on the grounds of the Koeisteerthof in Mortsel.

The Navy could then house its fighter aircraft there.

It is generally accepted that Deurne Airport is Antwerp's second airport after Wilrijckse Plein.

However, the Germans have - albeit only for a few weeks - built a second airport on the grounds of the Mortselse Koeisteerthof. The domain was badly damaged during the conquest of Antwerp.

In October, the German Imperial Navy commandeered all available Mortsel men to clear the obstacles in the area around the ruin and thus make it suitable for their fighter aircraft.

However, the German chances of war were already nil at that time and capitulation was imminent.

Nevertheless, a few aircraft were still based at the new airfield.

When the armistice was finally declared on November 11, 1918, some angry marines set fire to the planes to prevent the officers from fleeing to the homeland.

On November 18, the vanguard of the Belgian army arrived at Mortsel and the German soldiers who had remained behind were put on the first train to the east.

Several hundred aircraft that were part of the spoils of war were left behind on the "Wilrijckse Plein"; some were still flyable, the others were scrapped.

The airfield in Mortsel was closed after the hostilities. The new airport here in Deurne ws laid out in 1923 and greatly expanded by the Germans during their occupation in 1940-1945.