A nice and rare visitor to the USAFE base in the Netherlands.

A nice and rare visitor to the USAFE base in the Netherlands.

The pilots of the F27 fleet of the Koninklijke Luchtmacht (KLu, Royal Netherlands Air Force) always enjoyed their take-off, directly after rotation they often selected gear-up. And that resulted in some nice photos! Here C-8 is seen just after take-off. The Troopship made its first flight on 6 Oct'60 as PH-FBW and was delivered to the KLu on 28 Dec'60. The aircraft was also used as demo aircraft from 1994 onwards and gave through the years a spectaular show. It was withdrawn from use in Aug'96 and became a gate-guard in late 1997. In late 2003 it became an instructional airframe at Eindhoven.

to AMARC with ivneotry code CF197 on 10 February 2003 and moved to HVF West, Tucson (AZ) for scrap on 28 February 2013.

Delivered factory-fresh to Soesterberg on 14 November 1980 and served the 32nd Tactical Fighter Squadron "Wolfhounds" up to 1990. Here the Eagle is seen in its element, with live weapons (AIM-7 and AIM-9 and on board gun), during a Scramble from its homebase. The F-15C was sold (unmarked) to the Royal Saudi Air Foprce as 4203 on 17 September 1990.

This Fighting Falcon arrvived together with a Spang F-4G at Soesterberg. The team formed a so-called Hunter Killer Team, in which the F-4G searches for an enemy radar and the F-16 gives protection and or gives the radar a kill.

Built as an F-4E and delivered to Ramstein air base (Germany) in the early seventies, It was rebuilt by McDonnell Douglas in the States to F-4G and re-delivered to Europe, this time to Spangdahlem air base (Germany). It served the 81st for many years before it was stored at AMARC with inventory code AA FP0731 on 2 August 1991. It was selected for the QF-4G program mand rebuyilt for the job by Tracor Flight Systems at Mojave (CA). It became code DD250 with the 82nd ATRS from 19 February 1999. The Wild Weasel Phantom was shot down as an aerial target on 7 February 2001.

The last Otter produced and it was delivered in 1967. Here with Sabourin from 1977 until 1996. Converted to Walter turbine in 2002 and exported as N725TH in 2013. It became a common sight flying in the area where I live on Vancouver Island until tragedy struck on 4 September 2022. Soon after take-off from Friday Harbor on Orcas Island/WA it dived out of control into the sea with the loss of all on board. Preliminary evidence indicates failure of the elevator spar. It is seen here at what later became the Viking Outpost mooring.

Operated by Kelowna Flightcraft.

Operated by Harbour Air, our pilot awaits us for a 23 minute sightseeing flight around Vancouver.