From the ground

Soesterberg Ar Base seen from the spotter places

Aviation enthusiasts have been watching aircraft since aviation began. However, as a hobby planespotting did not appear until the second half of the 20th century. During World War II and the subsequent Cold War some countries even encouraged their citizens to become “planespotters” for reasons of public security, like warning official channels of incoming enemy airplanes. Since the opening of Soesterberg Air Base, it attracted lots of people that enjoyed watching the operations. Some spots at the fence of the air bases offered good looks onto the airbase. The most well-known spots were:

Teahouse Soesterdal
In the early days of Soesterberg a tea house called Soesterdal offered good looks on the operations at the open fields of Soesterberg.

Crossing Montgomery Road and runway
Another interesting spotter place was the spot where the Montgomery Road crossed the runway. Because of increasing traffic, this crossing was in the fifties secured with traffic lights until the crossing was closed at all for security reasons.

Van Weerden Poelman Road
A popular spot in the sixties was a hill at the Van Weerden Poelman Road. From there you could watch the aircraft getting airborne and landing. Some dispersals with aircraft were also close to the fence, so ground operations could also be watched from there. The spot attracted many tourists that even came to Soesterberg with busses for a daytrip.

Spotters place Batenburg Road – End of Post Road  
After Teahouse Soesterdal disappeared in 1940, the Batenburg road on the south side of the base became a famous spotter place for many years to come. Only a low fence separated the plane spotters from the aircraft parked at dispersals and rolling over the taxi tracks.

Dumping spot Tammer
East of the Batenburg Road, along the Amersfoortse Road, there was a dumping spot that was run by the Tammer brothers. This spot offered great looks at the taxi track and runway, and it offered better opportunities to photograph visiting aircraft than the spot along the Batenburg Road.

Spotters hill
Due to security reasons, a large part of the base lost its great viewing spots because of earthern ramparts that were put up along the fences. To compensate this loss, a spotters hill was arranged in 1987 at the Van Weerden Poelman road. Unfortunately, this spot faced the sun. So the nice photo opportunities for which Soesterberg was famous were lost also. After closure of the base nature took the hill over.

Alternative viewing points
Aircraft spotters are always looking for better spots to take pictures. And they are resourcesful in that, and sometimes they take the risk of being chased by the military police. One well-known spot was called ‘Interlas’. Interlas was a welding company and directly behind their building was the last chance checking point for the aircraft of the 32nd. At this point the aircraft parked and got their last checks before take-off. For sound protection a earthern wall was built. From this wall, you could shot beautiful pictures. So, the challenge was to jump the fence, run up the wall, take your shots and get away before the military police arrived.