Beauvechain Air Base (Le Culot Airfield)

Beauvechain Air Base is a Belgian Air Force military airfield located in Walloon Brabant province, Belgium, 6 km south of Beauvechain and 32 km east-southeast of Brussels. It operates as a base for operational helicopter squadrons and a pilot training center. The installation hosts the 1st Wing, equipped with A109BA helicopters, and the Basic Flying Training School, which operates SIAI Marchetti SF.260 trainer aircraft. Additional tenant units include the Wing Meteo and the Air Force Band. The base employs 1,100 personnel and houses the First Wing Historical Centre, a military aviation museum featuring historic aircraft.

Established by the Belgian Air Force in 1936 as Le Culot Airfield, the facility was captured by the German Wehrmacht on 10 May 1940. During World War II, the Luftwaffe operated Junkers Ju 88 bombers from the airfield, assigning Kampfgeschwader 3 and Kampfgeschwader 30 for operations during the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain. German forces expanded the infrastructure by adding taxiways, revetments, and maintenance facilities including hangars and barracks. Between 1941 and 1944, the base housed Aufklärungsgruppe 22 and 33 for maritime reconnaissance, and later Kampfgeschwader 6, Kampfgeschwader 30, and Lehrgeschwader 1 for bombing operations against England.

Following damage from United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) bombing raids, Allied forces captured the airfield in September 1944. The Royal Air Force's No. 126 Wing operated from the site, designated B68 ALG, before USAAF engineers repaired the installation. Re-designated Advanced Landing Ground A-89, it hosted the USAAF Ninth Air Force's 373d and 36th Fighter Groups operating P-47 Thunderbolts, and the 322d Bombardment Group operating B-26 Marauders.

The facility functioned as a relief distribution center before returning to Belgian control in December 1946. Rebuilt after the war, the base housed the 1st Fighter Wing from 1948 until 1996, operating Supermarine Spitfires and later F-16 Fighting Falcons. In 1996, the 1st Wing transitioned to a flight training unit after squadrons relocated from Goetsenhoven and Brustem. In September 2010, the 1st Wing was reconfigured into its current operational role as a helicopter unit.