Sea King
Pics. of various Belgian Air Force aircraft types; pics.of foreign aircraft types spotted in Belgium (renewed !)
October 19, 2019 | Frank & Gijs & Hans
Photography in Belgium near military airfields and outside the gates and fences was not allowed for decades. The pictures in this gallery represent a selection , taken by the authors in Belgium as aircraft-spotters from 1967 to 1971 (pictures numbered 38-47 , 59-74 and possibly also 7 and 29)
Also are included some recently taken pictures of single ,operational military aircraft , visiting a non-military air-event (for instance Warbirds Shows) and taken within the area of the particular airfield (pictures numbered 49-53)
Moreover some pictures of Belgian Air Force aircraft are included – kindly supplied by Gijs and belonging to his collection – taken at unknown dates and locations (unless mentioned ) in Belgium or elsewhere within air base enclosures during military base visits or military open days (pictures numbered 1 -37)
Koksijde Air Base, Belgium , July 3rd , 1992 (arrivals for Open Day)
September 14, 2019 | Hans
On July 3rd , 1992 Hans travelled all the way by car to and fro Koksijde Air Base , which is situated near the Belgian coast . It was his intention to be present during the arrivals of several aircraft and helicopters that were to participate in the Open Days that followed.
Spotting at Volkel (NL) , September 15th , 1988 ( 35 years 306 squadron , K.Lu.)
November 10, 2017 | Hans
In September 1988 it was 35 years ago that 306“reconnaissance“squadron of the K.Lu. came into operation.
Gilze Rijen (NL) Open Day, June 2014
July 3, 2014 | Hans
The 2014 Open Days of the Royal Netherlands Air Force took place at Gilze Rijen AB both on June 20th and 21st and Hans was present on Saturday the 21st , working his way through the crowd and taking the pictures shown in this gallery.
Kleine Brogel (B) Open Day / Tiger Meet, June 1978
March 12, 2014 | Frank & Gijs & Hans
The 1978 Tiger Meet was held at Kleine Brogel AB (Belgium) from 19-26 June. Participating were the air arms of 10 different countries including Norway, Greece and Portugal. On 23 June KB was open to the public and on Saturday 24 June the 31 squadron ‘Tiger’ area was open to the public. We all three visited the event.
Spotting at Soesterberg Air Base (NL)
November 17, 2013 | Hans & Frank
Frank only incidentally visited Soesterberg AB , but Hans frequented the former Air Base quite often because he moved to the province of Utrecht (where Soesterberg is located) at the end of the Sixties , after having made his living in Eindhoven . So he (also) became a Soesterberg AB “home” spotter and he already has published a lot of his Soesterberg pictures elsewhere on the web. The picture-gallery on our website shows a limited selection of pictures not only of the aircraft of the resident American “Royal” squadron , The Wolfhounds , but also of various other planes that were stationed at Soesterberg AB or only paid a visit over the years. They were all taken from outside the base.
Helicopter Rescue Meet 1972, Lee-on-Solent (UK)
August 6, 2013 | Hans & Frank
On 11-12 July 1972 Frank and Hans were invited to visit the NATO Helicopter Meet that was organized at Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent, in Britain. The flight to and fro was made in Fokker F-27 “C-8” of the K.Lu. Participating to the Meet were delegations from the RAF (Whirlwind helis),Royal Navy (Wessex-helis), USAFE (Huskies), R.Danish Navy (Alouette IIIs), R.Danish Air Force (Sikorsky S-61s), R.Neth.AF (Alouette IIIs) , R.Neth.Navy (Agusta-Bell UH-1s) , French Navy (Alouette IIIs) , WGAF (Bell UH-1s), WGNavy (Sikorsky H-34s) and Italian AF (Agusta-Bell 204Bs).
Eindhoven (NL) Open Day, July 1993
November 15, 2012 | Hans & Frank
The 80th anniversary of the Koninklijke Luchtmacht was celebrated with an Open Day at Eindhoven on July 3rd, 1993.
Amongst the many aircraft especially significant were present the USAF’s F-117 “Stealth”-fighter , the Victor-tanker and a KC-10 . The former East-Block-countries participated with the Hungarian MIG-23 , the Czech Sukhoi SU-25 , the MIG-29 , the Czech L-39 Albatros-trainer and an Antonov AN-12 transport. Interesting helicopter-types being present were a.o. the Polish PZL-Sokol w.3 and the Czech MIL Mi-17.
Thousands of people attended this Open Day and Hans and Frank were also among the crowd.
Bierset (Belgium) Open Day, June 21st, 1980
October 25, 2012 | Hans
On June 21st and 22nd, 1980 two Open Days were held at Bierset AB in Belgium and it was one of the first times that a Belgian F-16 was shown in public. There were so few people visiting the Open Day on the 21st , making Hans think for a while that the organizers had assembled the aircraft on static especially for him…! Despite the less favourable weather conditions he took some colour-slides.
