Koksijde Air Base is a Belgian Air Component facility in Koksijde

Koksijde

Koksijde is a municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders on the North Sea coast, at the southwest side. It comprises the towns of Koksijde proper, Oostduinkerke, St-Idesbald and Wulpen.-Statistics:...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. 40 sqn operating 5 Westland Sea King Mk.48

Westland Sea King

The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome engines , British made anti-submarine warfare systems and a...

 helicopters for search and rescue

Search and rescue

Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...

 (SAR) duties. Also based at Koksijde Air Base are Aérospatiale Alouette III

Aérospatiale Alouette III

The Aérospatiale Alouette III is a single-engine, light utility helicopter developed by Sud Aviation. It was manufactured by Aérospatiale of France, and under licence by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in India as Hal Chetak and Industria Aeronautică Română in Romania.The Alouette III is the...

 helicopters. The Westland Sea King Mk.48 helicopters will be replaced with NH90

NHI NH90

The NHIndustries NH90 is a medium sized, twin-engine, multi-role military helicopter manufactured by NHIndustries. The first prototype had its maiden flight in December 1995...

 NFH helicopters starting in March 2012.

It features two airframes as gateguard: a Hawker Hunter F.4

Hawker Hunter

The Hawker Hunter is a subsonic British jet aircraft developed in the 1950s. The single-seat Hunter entered service as a manoeuvrable fighter aircraft, and later operated in fighter-bomber and reconnaissance roles in numerous conflicts. Two-seat variants remained in use for training and secondary...

, and a Sikorsky S-58C, both ex-Belgian Air Force. Finally, one more Sikorsky S-58C is stored and used for static displays.

This base was featured in the popular TV show "Windkracht 10" and in the movie "Windkracht 10: Koksijde Rescue" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480854/.

Like many Belgian Air bases, both active and non-active, it is available to private recreational aviation during weekends.