On June 20th and 21st I attended the Royal Netherlands Air Force Open Days. This year, the open day was held at Gilze-Rijen Airbase, a helicopter base located in the Southern Netherlands. The Air Force usually rotates the venue each time the open days take place, allowing the public to appreciate better all bases of the Netherlands Air Force. This year was no exception, with the first day of the show being visited by 65000 spectators, following by a whopping 180000 spectators on the second day.
The weather conditions were challenging during the event, especially during the arrival days, where consistent drizzling rain made photography conditions difficult. However, the weather improved greatly during the show days, with clear blue skies at times which gave me ample time to visit the static and take lots of pictures in the sun.
The theme of this year’s event was ‘Operatie Luchtsteun’ (Operation Air Support), to show the public where the various Dutch defense components are active around the world such as Afghanistan, Mali and Somalia. In addition, the air force Alouettes were celebrating their 50 year anniversary this year, which allowed me to grab some good pictures of the remaining fleet, since they are imminently going to be withdrawn from military service.
Static Display
The show saw the participation of a varied mix of military aircraft and helicopters from various air arms all throughout Europe and Middle East, including a pair of F-4E-2020 Phantoms from Turkish Airbase Eskisehir, which were back at Gilze-Rijen after their participation in 2005. These were among the highlights of the show and also my personal favourites, as I had never seen a Turkish terminator before.
Some other highlights from the static display included the MiG-29s from Poland and Slovakia, the Portuguese casa C-295M, the french air force epsilons and the Polish build PZL SW-4 Puszczyk helicopter which visited The Netherlands for the very first time.
Flying Display
The morning saw some air displays from the local based RNLAF Historic Flight followed by some Alouette 3 displays.. Around eleven o’clock in the morning the Royal Air Force ‘Red Arrows’ took to the sky to perform a fantastic display.
At around lunchtime, it was time for a demo by two dutch F-16s simulating a QRA task by taking off to intercept a Boeing B.787-8 Dreamliner operated by Arke Fly. When the B.787-8 was safely escorted out of the area, hell broke lose. It was time for the airpower display. Various scenarios were simulated with multiple explosions, air attacks and evacuations. A total of twelve RNLAF helicopters took part in the air power display, four Apaches, four Chinooks and four Cougars, along with four F-16s taking part in the air power display.
The show also showcased one of the last flights of the MD-11 operated by KLM with approximately fifty ill children on board. The ‘Hoogvliegers’ (High Flyers) Foundation regularly organize flights for terminally ill children to give them the time of their life. After their arrival the MD-11 was parked at the beginning of runway 20, and the children were transported to the public area.
The home teams (RNLAF Apache and RNLAF F-16 demos) did not disappoint either. The RNLAF Apache display team with pilots Major Roland “Wally” Blankenspoor and Major Harm “Kaas” Cazemier gave a nice display with lots of flares. The second RNLAF team to perform at Gilze-Rijen is the F-16 display team with pilot Jeroen “Slick” Dickens from 323 Sqn, pushing the jet to the edge in his first display season. The RNLAF F-16 was not the only F-16 display during the show. Both the Belgian and Hellenic F-16 display team participated in the show, much to my delight as I had never seen a Greek F-15 demo before.
Other highlights in the flying display included the MiG-29 Fulcrum of the Slovak Air Force The Swiss F-18 Hornet display team was the closer of this year’s event, with the usual impressive aggressive routine. The Czech Air Force also participated with the L-159 ALCA in the flying display, another first for me!
Being a helicopter base, the show attracted lots of military helicopter operators to participate, including the Austrian Alouette III demo, which is rarely seen outside Austria. The Belgian Air Component also sent their venerable Seaking to perform a SAR demo during the show, another highlight for me. The Spanish Air Force also sent the Spanish helicopter display team Patrulla Aspa. This team operates five Eurocopter EC.120 Colibri’s and performed a nice tight display with some impressive formation flying.
Their was obviously so much more to see at this great show, thus I will let the following slideshow give you a small taste of all the other acts that made the Dutch Air Force Open Days be another success. Enjoy and thanks for watching!