Google doesn’t want you to see Volkel Airbase (The Netherlands) from above

April 28, 2013 Military Aviation, Weapons
David Cenciotti

The following image is a screenshot from GoogleEarth.

It shows Volkel airbase, the Netherlands, blocked out by Google because it is one of the European sites hosting a U.S. nuclear weapon repository.

Volkel is the base of the 312 and 313 Sqn of the RNlAF (Royal Netherlands Air Force): according to Wikipedia, Dutch F-16AMs can at times be seen carrying BDU-38 dummy bombs, which are used to simulate the B61 nuclear bombs, 22 of those are believed to be stored there (as of 2008).

By the way, Bing Maps shows all the base but the northern part, that is blacked-out.

Volkel AB

Someone told this author that the reason for blurring the airport is to comply with the request by the Dutch authorities to hide military installations. Still, this would not explain why Leeuwarden airbase is clearly visibile on Google Earth.

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About David Cenciotti
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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

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4 Comments

  1. If you look closer, you can see that Leeuwarden AB is also blurred, but not as much as Volkel. All military installations are blurred, for instance: Deelen, Woensdrecht, Ede and Stroe. Doesn’t take away that the nukes are on Volkel. There even is a detachment of the 703rd Munitions Support Squadron permanently based to maintain them.

  2. Sounds quite like security paranoia. German airbase Büchel which hosts also B61 is clear and crispy as ever …

  3. aviano air base in italy is also holding us nukes, and is clearly visible on google earth. so, who cares for some pseudo security.

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