Royal Netherlands Air Force open days 2006

The 2006 edition of the annual open days of the Royal Netherlands Air Force took place on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th June. This time, Leeuwarden Airbase opened the gates for two days to show the public what they are all about. One of the highlights was a demonstration from the US Navy demonstration team; the 'Blue Angels' including 'Fat Albert', a Hercules that is used to transport equipment and personnel but is also flying displays. Besides of the Blue Angels, a lot of well known military demonstration teams came to Leeuwarden to demonstrate their skills; the Red Arrows, Patrouille de France, Partouille Suisse, Royal Jordanian Falcons while the (renewed) Asas de Portugal, the Midnight Hawks and a new civilian run team 'The Blades' made their first appearance at the open days of the Royal Netherlands Air Force.

All the photographs below are made on the Saturday. Compliments must be made to the Open Days Organising Committee (and all the other people that were involved) for their efforts, it was once again a successful event!

Probably the first demonstration outside the USA for the in 2005 formed Air Combat Command's F-15E Strike Eagle Demo Team based at Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina.The F-15E Stike Eagle Demo is flown by Captain Albert “Jewel” Kennedy and Captain Jack “Woody” Stallworth. They performed a fast display while using a F-15E Strike Eagle (serial 97-0218/LN) from 48 Fighter Wing based at RAF Lakenheath. Also very special was the narrator of the team; Captain Jerry “Peso” Van Dyke (raised in Friendswood, Texas, but born in Paramaribo, Suriname). His narration was in Dutch!

Absolutely an unique sight at Leeuwarden! Almost everybody was waiting for the Blue Angels, but first; the demo of 'Fat Albert', the support aircraft of the Blue Angels. Fat Albert, a C-130T Hercules with registration 164763, demonstrates a jet-assisted take off (JATO). Eight solid fuelled rockets, four on each side, are fired simultaneously. They are unfortunately running out of rockets. That is why the Blue Angels demonstrate a JATO take off at select airshows only, fortunately including Leeuwarden!

The Blue Angels participated in only one airshow outside the USA and Canada; Leeuwarden. Definately one of the biggest attractions during the open days at Leeuwarden. Blue Angel 1,2,3 and 4 are seen here in take off with full AB.

A well known participant during the Dutch open days (and other airshows) is the Belgium Air Force F-16 Solo Display Team. F-16AM, serial FA-131, is seen here flown by display pilot Michaël "Mickey" Artiges. It is his first season as a F-16 Solo Display pilot. During normal days, "Mickey" works at Florennes and he is also a part time instructor on the F-16. On the Saturday, he was able to fly the 'fair weather air display'.

A welcome regular participant at the Royal Netherlands Air Force open days is this P-51D-30NA Mustang nicknamed 'Damn Yankee' owned by the Dutch Mustang Flight. This Mustang with serial PH-PSI is based at Lelystad airport and is seen here in take off flown by pilot Tom Karst van der Meulen.

A Search and Rescue demonstration is normally flown with only one helicopter. But not at Leewarden, the homebase of 303 Squadron which is equipped with three AB.412SP helicopters. The demonstration was simultaneously flown with two helicopters (serial R-01 and R-02) while the third example could be seen at the hangar of 303 Squadron

Another new display team performed at Leeuwarden air base; 'the Blades' from 2Excel Aviation. The Blades, formed in March 2005, flew a precision formation aerobatic display and is a commercially-run 4-ship team operating the Extra 300LP.

The Royal Netherlands Air Force PC-7 Solo Display Team can't be missed at the open days. The team is based at Woensdrecht AB. Captain Nick 'Fumes' de With is the demo pilot and this is his first season a the demo pilot. The Pilatus PC-7, serial L-03, is seen here in the new black/yellow livery.

After flying with six Cessna T-37C the team 'Asas de Portugal' was disbanded due to the retirement of these aircraft. Now they are back with a two-ship display with AlphaJets form 103 Squadron based at Beja. It was the first time that the renewed team performed their capabilities in the Netherlands.

A Russian build Mig-29 could be seen on the static display while another Russian build helicopter flew a display on both days. A Czech Air Force Mi-24V, with serial 7353, flew a display on both days. Note the tiger livery that was applied for the NATO Tiger Meet 2005 which was held at Balikesir, Turkey between April 29th and May 9th.

Something totally different could be seen during a break in the airshow programme; Christian Moullec flying in formation with eight barnacle geese. He made a couple off passes together with the geese.

A very welcome visitor at Leeuwarden was this Russian build Mig-29 from the Polish Air Force. The Mig-29 with serial 77 is based at Minsk Mazowiecki in the eastern part of Poland and is assigned to 1elt "Warszawa" (Eskadra Lotnictwa Taktycznego - Tactical Aviation Squadron).

Skyline Aviation was founded in 1990 and it is the only civilian company in the Netherlands that provides target towing, electronic warfare flights, air defence and bomber attack flights for e.g. the Royal Netherlands Navy. One of their aircraft, a L-39 with serial ES-TLA is seen here parked on the static display at Leeuwarden.

The Czech air Force replaced its Mig-21 fleet with 14 Gripen fighters. The Czech Air Force took delivery of its first Gripens in April 2005. By the end of August, all the remaining Gripens had been delivered. On 1 July 2005, the Gripen was declared as fully operational and available for NATO air defence taskings by the Czech Air Force. 14 Gripens (including 2 two-seaters) are operational and based as Casláv air base.One of them, a JAS39C with serial 9243, is seen here parked on the static at leeuwarden.