Cloverleaf drive

Modern times have left this piece of land around Cloverleaf Castle more or less untouched. There is still a lot of agricultural activity here and the oldest forests are located. Some parts date back to the 18th century.

From the cloverleaf drive you have a view of a German command bunker from the Second World War. This was built at the time at the mock airfield there. (there was also such a bunker in Deurne). This is unique in Europe, with their typical conical shape.

The airfield of Wilrijk was built around 1939 as part of the General Mobilization as one of the many fallback airfields. The airfield was operational on 8 May 1939. There were eleven aircraft Renard 16 of the 9th Squadron of Bierset stationed. They carried out some reconnaissance flights, but on 15 May they had to withdraw to Sint-Niklaas. The German army set up this airfield as a mock airfield, to deceive reconnaissance aircraft. It was called "Flugplatz Hemiksem".

In 1940-41 the Flugplatzverwaltung decided to build a command bunker on the outskirts of deurne airfield, in the garden of "het Drakenhof". At the same time, an almost identical command bunker was erected on the edge of the mock airfield in Wilrijk. In addition to this command bunker, a number of wooden fake warehouses for aircraft were also built, which are no longer preserved.

WK Punten