De Cocksdorp - Texel International Airport, Netherlands
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Texel International Airport - Wikipedia
Texel International Airport. DC-3 disaster[edit]. External links[edit].
Texel International Airport (ICAO : EHTX), is a small airport that can be found 3.5 NM (6.5km; 4.0 mi) north-east[1] from Den Burg, on the island of Texel. Although it has a customs office to handle international flights, the airport is not designated as an international airport. However, scheduled international flights are not conducted from the airport. It does not have an IATA code.
Although small piston-engine aircraft are the most common users of the airfield, turboprops like the Fokker 50 or small jets like the Cessna Citation and smaller turboprops can also land at Texel. There is also a lit platform available for helicopters. Fokker 100 was the largest aircraft to ever fly at Texel Airport. Mil Mi-26 was the largest helicopter.
Skydiving is one of the most popular activities at Texel Airport.
The island itself is a popular tourist destination especially during summer and so a lot of private pilots come to the island for recreation. There is also a small museum showing the history of aviation on the island.
Vliegpark de Vlijt was the original name of the airport. It was created as a joint military-civilian facility. It was built as part of a labour project to reduce unemployment. KLM flew tourists to the new airport using the Fokker F.XXXVI, while the military used a variety of aircraft.
The German Luftwaffe attacked the airfield at the beginning of the Second World War, resulting in the destruction 10 of the 25 based planes. Six Fokker D.XVII Fokker aircraft were based at Texel and used as training aircraft against the invading Germans. However, the Dutch government surrendered quickly and the airfield did not play any significant role during the invasion. The island was captured by German troops who took control of it and expanded it for their own purposes. They named it Fliegerhorst Texel. Numerous bunkers were also built and concrete runways and taxiways were created. Although the Royal Air Force attacked the airfield several times in 1940, there was little damage. It was declared inoperable by the Royal Air Force in 1940. In April 1943, obstructions were put up to stop allied aircraft from landing on it.