Gilze-Rijen air base
Molenheide airfield
In 1910, the Eerste Nederlandse Vliegvereniging from Breda, chose the Molenheide between Gilze and Rijen as its airfield. It became the Netherlands' first official airfield. During World War I, it served as a military auxiliary airfield.
Construction of the hangar at Molenheide Airfield (photo: Heemkring Molenheide archive)
After 1930, thousands of spectators from all over the country came to Molenheide every year to watch demonstrations, stunt flying and the pleasure flights during the flying festival.
Inflow of viewers via Gilze-Rijen station (photo: Molenheide Heemkring archives)
Nerhoven Airport
Next to Molenheide, construction of Nerhoven Airport, intended for civil aviation, began in 1935. In 1939, it was requisitioned by the War Ministry due to mobilisation.
Fliegerhorst Gilze Rijen
German troops take possession of Nerhoven Airfield (photo: Molenheide Heemkring archives)
In May 1940, the Germans took possession of both airfields to merge and expand them into one large German military airfield: Fliegerhorst Gilze Rijen. The Fliegerhorst and its surroundings faced a lot of bombing raids during the war.
Gilze-Rijen Air Base
After the war, Defence took over Gilze-Rijen Airfield and in 1946 it became a permanent military base for the Dutch Air Force. Since 2008, almost all the armed forces' helicopters operate from Gilze-Rijen Air Base. For the population in the region, noise pollution increased with the arrival of the helicopters.
Look to the east, the land of dairy farms. You see a shifting landscape, large plots, lots of space. Once these were wastelands. Farmers reclaimed this area by hand, so to speak.
Then the need for food grew and so did the demand for more efficient use of cultivated land. Time for land consolidation. Small plots are exchanged and merged. Many trees disappear. Meadow birds such as black-tailed godwit and lapwing are okay with that. Birds of prey lurk in trees and foxes may lurk among bushes.
Again, it is time to change tack: cows inside or outside, more herb-rich grassland, more insects, shelters for ground-breeding birds such as black-tailed godwit and lapwing.
Do you have binoculars? Then on the horizon you can see a farm with a manure digester. The farmer supplies milk and meat, ferments the manure, reuses the heat, generates energy and improves the soil with the residual product.
Also take a look westwards. There you will see other agriculture: a care farm with a picking garden, a grower of old Dutch fruit trees and a plot where oil crops will be grown from 2019, for example for walnut oil! Complemented by grass, herb and flower borders; cereals, legumes like lupin. Good for biodiversity!
Photos: NLGR - Gilze and Rijen Nature and Landscape Association
The village of Molenschot has existed for a very long time. The triangular square in the core of the village probably dates back to Frankish times (early Middle Ages). In any case, Mueleschot - Molenscot is first mentioned in writings in 1299.
The small historic core has no fewer than five national monuments: the Anna Chapel, the Calvary Cross, the Anna Statue, the Anna Church and the Three Linden.
Chapel St Anna (photo 1975)
Annabeeld (left) and Calvary cross (right)
Since the Brotherhood of St Anna was founded in 1879, there have been annual pilgrimages to St Anne's Chapel on July 26. She is seen as the intercessor of women who want to get pregnant. But people also go on Anna pilgrimage in the hope of getting a relationship: 'To Molenschot every Anneke goes for a man's sake, every man's sake for an Anneke'.
St. Anne's Church
Herberg De Drie Linden
Source: www.tijdmachinegilzerijen.nl of Heemkring Molenheide
Eating and drinking in the neighbourhood
Fun tips in the area
Information on this page was made possible by Heemkring Molenheide, Natuur- en Landschapsvereniging Gilze en Rijen (NLGR) and the municipality of Gilze en Rijen.
