Website covering the (R)F-84F Thunderstreak / Thunderflash as well as airshow reports, base visits, aircraft museums and lots of aircraft-spotting pictures taken from the sixties to present days
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Warbirds
Warbirds is an album containing galleries dedicated to civil aircraft that wear a military livery, while being kept airworthy.
We came across a number of them in the course of time . It is always very entertaining and lots of fun for both young and old people to watch these museum-pieces flying! Also some pictures of a/c assigned to air force historical Memorial Flights are included.
In the beginning lots of former military aircraft were kept in flying condition with their assigned civil registration prominently visible (see for example the pictures of the ex-KLu -Harvards in this gallery, taken by Hans). Only in later years it became gradually more common to re-paint them entirely in (former) military colours.
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At the Florennes Airshow on 21 June 1975 ,a couple of warbirds showed up as well: the Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane of the Battle-of-Britain Memorial Flight. There was also a Boeing B-17 present carrying a French civil registration. This aircraft became a "real" warbird in later years , painted in USAAF-colours. Hans and Frank were among the spectators.
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During the Airshow at Rheine-Hopsten in June 1977 Frank could photograph one Warbird which was on Static Show, namely a Messerschmidt ME-109 , actually this was a former Spanish Air Force aircraft , nicknamed "Buchon".
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At least two Warbirds participated in the Airshow at Deelen in 1978 : the Mitchell and the Boeing B-17, both painted in USAAF-colours. Hans shows you the pictures he made of them.
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During the Open Day at Soesterberg in September 1981 Hans pictured this former R.Netherlands Air Force Fokker S-11 primary trainer . A number of these "Instructors" are still airworthy today , so it certainly is a solid design !
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In 1985 it was forty years ago that World War II ended and therefore a special Liberation Airshow was organized at Rotterdam-Zestienhoven Airport on May 5th . Lots of Warbirds and historic aircraft were present and this gallery shows a selection of pictures , taken by Hans .
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In 1985 it was 50 years ago that the famous Douglas DC-3 Dakota took to the air for the first time. Reason for a Golden DC-3 Jubilee-celebration , organized at Eindhoven Airport on July 6th. Amongst others five airworthy DC-3s were present . Hans made some pictures of the Warbirds that were flown in.
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A few Warbirds also took part in the K.Lu Open Days at Eindhoven AB (NL) on September 19th & 20th , 1986 as you can see in this gallery. They were pictured by Hans.
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In 1989 Hans was on vacation in Switzerland and he visited Dübendorf Air Base near Zürich where the AMEF (Allgemeine Meisterschaften der Fliegertruppe) were held ; in this old Junkers JU-52 in Swiss AF colour-scheme (they had three of them at the time , by the way) , pictured on August 25th , scenic-flights could be made.
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Also a few Warbirds were invited to take part in the 1989 Brustem Airshow , including this Lancaster PA474 , code PM-M2 of the Battle-of-Britain Memorial Flight , photo by Frank.
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The North American B-25 Mitchell of the "Duke of Brabant Air Force" was one of the Warbirds that took part in the Air Show at Valkenburg Dutch Naval Air Station in June 1990. Hans stood close-by.
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A preserved and airworthy Fairey Firefly in Royal Navy colour-scheme gave an excellent show during the Open Day at the Dutch naval base at De Kooij in 1992 . Hans made some photographs.
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In this gallery you will see some "warbird"-pictures taken by Hans and Frank during the 1992 Florennes Airshow.
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Hans and Frank went to Belgium in September 1993 to attend the traditional Warbirds Air Show that took place at Oostmalle Airfield .
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In 1995 it was commemorated that 50 year ago World War II ended and therefore Air Base Soesterberg was open to the public from April 29th to May 7th. Each day there were flying activities and demos , given by a number of Warbirds that were present. Hans made a selective photo-report.
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This airfield in Belgium certainly is an eldorado for Warbirds-fans and 1996 was a year in which a great air show was organized there , not in the least because some former air force jets took part ! Especially interesting to watch were examples of the F-86 Sabre and the MIG 15 , once real opponents during the Korean War. Hans and Frank enjoyed their performance very much.
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One of the participating Warbirds during the Open Day at Gilze Rijen in July 1997 was this De Havilland-Canada Beaver ,painted in K.Lu.-colours and photographed by Frank.
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The 1997 Open Day at Valkenburg (Dutch Naval Station) also had a few Yak-52-warbirds in its air display. Hans and Frank made some colour-slides there.
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Frank shows you some pictures he made of the Warbirds that were present during the Open Day at Beauvechain in 1999.
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A few ex-KLu Pipers were present at the Twenthe Airshow in June 2003; they were wearing their old KLu colour scheme. This picture was made by Frank.
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In September 2009 Kleine Brogel hosted the annual Tiger Meet; spotters were allowed to observe the flying activities on September 18th. Coincidently in the weekend following the nearby Sanicole/Helchteren Airshow was to take place; a number of warbirds that were to perform at Sanicole were temporarily based at KB , so Hans and Frank took the opportunity to take some pictures of them!
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The Fly-In at Lelystad AP in 2009 , organized by the Aviodrome Museum , attracted some interesting Warbirds : the FW-190 in World War II-Luftwaffe colours was of course most significant in its presence ! These pictures were taken by Hans.
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Belgium celebrated the 65th anniversary of its air force with an impressive airshow at Koksijde Air Base on 6 and 7 July 2011. The show also featured lot of warbirds that are presented in this gallery. Frank visited the show on Thursday 7 July.
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Zoersel/Oostmalle is a disused NATO airbase in Belgium (near Antwerp). It houses a small but very enthusiastic aero club and this club (called APCK) has a great track record when it comes to organizing warbird airshows. Although there were no fast jets participating this year it was a fantastic event; Frank was among the visitors and his pictorial report starts here.
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On August 20th another Warbirds-Fly-In took place , namely at Lelystad AP , organized by the Aviodrome Museum and Hans went to this enjoyable event. Especially the "real" Army Camps in World War II-style set up by volunteers attracted much attention as well as the musical shows from that era. Some interesting Warbirds did arrive of which the Lockheed P-38 Lightning certainly was the high-light !
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This gallery contains pictures of "Warbirds" that we saw during different (spotting) tours undertaken by us in the course of years.
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