Koksijde 2007

Airshow : Arrivals

On Thursday the first participants already arrived. Weather was nice and sunny that day and two Spanish EF-2000's based at Moron arrived for the flying display. Two Turkish recce RF-4E arrived as well, which were immediately the stars of the static display. One of the two phantom pilots wanted to see the trees in the approach from close-by and made a very low final approach! Friday started very wet, but in the afternoon the rain stopped and some sunny spells appeared late afternoon. Friday was the main arrival day with most participants arriving that day. On Saturday morning the last participant of the static display, a Hellenic Air Force T-6 texan arrived, as it had to divert on Friday due to the bad weather.

Airshow : 30 June - 1 July 2007

The organizers could attract some nice participants again to be displayed in the static display. The two Turkish RF-4E's of which one was still in the great camouflage colors were the stars of the static. The Ukraine Air Force came with an AN-30, which is very rare in our country. The Hellenic Air Force showed off their new T-6 Texan II trainers, which is not very often seen outside Greece. The French Army came with a PC-6 Porter all the way from their home base Montauban near the French Pyrenees. To see an aircraft overview, click here.

Airshow : Flying display

For the first time an EF2000 Typhoon touched the ground at Koksijde during these "Defence Days" and it was the Spanish Air Force that had the honor, even with a flying display. As 2007 is the final year of the trusty Fouga Magister, the aircraft was decorated with some special markings. For that occasion the Belgian F-16 demo team joined the Fouga Magister during its display for some formation passes. On Sunday Patrouille de France made a pass over the airfield during their ferry flight between the meeting of Valenciennes on Saturday and the meeting in Nancy on Sunday. To show what Belgian Defence does, they showed Joint Power demo with three A.109's, one C-130H and two F-16's. Furthermore some civil displays from two Folland Gnats, two Jet Provosts, Catalina, a UH-1H Huey, a Vampire and a DC-3 Dakota.

Airshow : Departures

On Monday most of the aircraft departed home again. One Lechfeld based Tornado had to come back with a technical problem and departed on Wednesday. The French PC-6 had some troubles as well and had to stay until Wednesday after another PC-6 came with spares and technicians. One double seat Belgian F-16 was broken as well and left Koksijde on Wednesday after the show.

Koksijde : January - February

On the 4th of January C-130 CH03 made four touch and go's in excellent weather conditions. The 8th was a busy day with Fouga Magister MT48 making a full stop landing. An A.109 came in to take some fuel and two marchetti's made some formation approaches. Four F-16's did some practice approaches that day which made it a nice day at the end. On the 12th two Dutch Chinooks came to Koksijde for a lunch stop, but no pictures could be made. On the last day of the month, an ERJ-145 made two full stop landings and taxied back for departure again. In February there were a lot of C-130's coming for training approaches. On the 14th of February an MD900 from the federal Police came to Koksijde to do some winching exercises with the 40th Sqn.

Koksijde : March

In March we had some British helicopter coming to take some fuel en-route to and from the UK. In the beginning of the month two German Navy Seakings and two German Army CH-53's came to Koksijde for a deployment, which brought some extra activity with them. A nice visitor was a German VIP Cougar on the 12th. On the 14th a British coastguard Britten Norman Islander came to have a look for the Super Sepco exercise which would be held in April. At the end of the month we had some C-130's again for training approaches, with on the 26th CH01 making 12 touch and go's on RWY11!

Koksijde : April

April was a busy month with the pollution control exercise "Super Sepco". Besides the exercise quiet some visitors came to Koksijde. In the beginning of the month we had the three helicopters to film the bicycle race "3-daagse van De Panne". On the 5th a Fouga Magister made a night stop. Again some Lynx and Gazelle helicopters from the British Army made some fuel stops during the month. On the 16th two French Alpha Jets based at Tours made some touch and go's. On the 17th MD900 G-12 made three fuel stops during the day. Some C-130's and the Falcon 900 from Melsbroek came to Koksijde some days for some training approaches.

Koksijde : May

On the 7th five B-Hunter unmanned aerial vehicles arrived for a deployment again for the entire month. On the 11th a very nice visitor made a fuel stop en-route to Bierset for the helidays, an Irish Air Corps Alouette III!! This was the last time they visited Koksijde as the type was retired in the Irish Air Corps in September 2007. Its successor, the AW-139, only crossed the airfield to Bierset as it has a bigger range. Another special helicopter was a British Army Air Corps historical flight Alouette II which made a fuel stop en-route to Bierset as well. On Monday the 14th, both helicopters refueled again on their way back home. The 24th and 29th were busy C-130 days at Koksijde with lots of touch and go's by these mighty transport aircraft.

Koksijde : June

On the 5th a Netherlands Air Force Cougar made a fuel stop on its way to Odiham. On the 8th one Netherlands Air Force Apache and Belgian Air Force A.109 took some fuel on their way to the Northolt photo call which was organized on the 9th and 10th of June. On the 11th both helicopters came back in company with three German BO-105's! On the 25th, 26th and 28th a C-130, two F-16's and some A.109's came to Koksijde to practice the Joint Power Demo for the Defence days at the end of the month. On the 26th three French Air Force Xingu's based at Cognac came to Koksijde with two Marchetti's for a night stop. The French aircraft were on deployment to Beauvechain to fly with the Belgian Marchetti's.

Koksijde : July

On Monday after the airshow, a Spanish Air Force Casa 295 which supported the EF2000's, got stuck next to the taxiway. Another Casa 295 came in the next day with some spares so the lightly damaged aircraft could be repaired again. On the 5th one Kleine Brogel and two Florennes based F-16's came in for a night! A fourth one came to bring a pilot for an F-16 that was still at Koksijde after the airshow. Three Marchetti's and an Alouette II joined the party and stayed a night at Koksijde as well. Two British Lynx and one Gazelle made a fuel stop from their German home base back to the UK. A German Air Force UH-1D made a night stop and departed the day after to Yeovilton to participate in the Air Day. On the 6th a Netherlands Air Force Cougar made a fuel stop en-route to Yeovilton as well. On the 9th, both returned again via Koksijde. On the 11th a German CH-53, BO-105 and UH-1D and a Netherlands Air Force Apache came in for fuel on their way to Fairford for the Air Tattoo. They all returned on the 16th. On the 12th a HA112 Buchon made a night stop at Koksijde due to the bad weather on its route further to Germany. Luckily this special aircraft could sleep in one of the hangars. On the 23rd the British Army helicopter display team, "The Blue Eagles" made a fuel stop on their way back home from the Sanicole airshow.

Koksijde : August

On the 3rd a German Navy Seaking came in for some fuel on its way home from the UK. On the 23rd we were surprised to see two French alpha Jets making a full stop landing and later that day, an F-16 made six low approaches. As this wasn't enough, we even got more surprised if we suddenly saw two Cambrai based Mirage 2000's in the overhead for a break. We thought they would make a low approach, but they made a full stop landing!! Apparently they had to divert Cambrai, and their diversion airfields Kleine Brogel, Beauvechain and Florennes didn't had suitable weather as well. So we were very lucky to see these here at Koksijde!! To my knowledge this was the first time ever a Mirage 2000 from Cambrai touched the ground at Koksijde! On the 29th a civil Falcon 2000 came to Koksijde for some training approaches.

Koksijde : September

On the 3rd a Royal Navy Junglie came in for a fuel stop on its way to Gutersloh in Germany. They came back on the 18th. On the 10th four B-Hunter UAV's arrived at Koksijde again for a deployment. On the 13th two French Army helicopters came to Koksijde to take some fuel. As the central taxiway was blocked for a test with a Sea King, both the Puma and Gazelle taxied via the aero club!! The 14th was a very busy day. An A.109 and an Alouette II came in for some fuel and went to Lombardsijde afterwards. A marchetti, Falcon 900 and the Netherlands Air Force AB.412SP "Tweety" came in for a lunch stop. The Brits came with a Royal Navy Sea King HC.4 (which came back on the 24th) and Army gazelle. The special painted F-16 of 349 Sqn came to Koksijde for two approaches, and three other F-16's flew over the base twice. On the 15th a French Air Force TBM700 came in with some VIP's.

Koksijde : October

October was a very busy month with two exercises: Active Trip with C-130's and the International SAR-meet. A lot of British gazelles came to Koksijde for fuel stops on their way to and from Germany. On the 5th, two Royal Navy Junglies came in for fuel on their way back home from Germany. The 22nd was a busy day with two RAF Puma's and four British gazelles! Two days later three British Lynx helicopters paid a visit to Koksijde, which made October 2007 a very British month.

Koksijde : November - December

November was a very quiet month with very little visitors actually touching the ground at Koksijde. On the 26th a German Navy Sea King made a night stop at our Sea King base. On the 28th a Polish Air Force M-28 came to Koksijde and departed the day after. If this wasn't special enough, a German C-160D Transall joined the party. On the 29th another C-160D came to pick up the people again. The year ended very calm in December with nothing special to mention.

German Seaking and CH-53G deployement

For six days, two German Army CH-53's and two German Navy Seakings were based at Koksijde for an exercise. The CH-53's based at Rheine Bentlage and Seakings based at Kiel arrived on Wednesday the 7th of March and flew daily missions. Both Seakings flew back to Germany on Monday the 12th of March. On Friday a third CH-53 arrived with spares and a technical crew for one of the CH-53's that went tech that day. On Tuesday the 13th a fourth CH-53 arrived and departed with two of the three CH-53's back to Rheine Bentlage. The last CH-53 departed on Wednesday the 14th back home.

Super Sepco excercise

From Monday the 16th till Thursday the 26th of April pollution control exercise "Super Sepco" was being held at Koksijde. 24 hours per day one of the participating aircraft was airborne over the North Sea for pollution control. Host nation Belgium participated with our sole pollution control aircraft, a Britten Norman Islander with registration OO-MMM. France came with a Cessna 206 of the Douanes. Denmark participated with a Challenger aircraft of the 721 Sqn. The Netherlands and Germany participated with a DO-228. The British came with a Cessna 406 and on the last days a Britten Norman Islander was added to the British fleet.

4-daagse van de Ijzer

The "Four Days of the Yser" is an international march, organized by the Belgian Defence. This annual 'military exercise' is open to civilians and military, Belgians as well as foreigners. To make the march more comfortable, some activities are being organized along the track. One of the activities is paradroppings out of an Alouette II helicopter every day. During the opening ceremony on the 21st of August, the Alouette II performs paradroppings on the beach of Oostduinkerke. On Wednesday the 22nd a Belgian Navy Alouette III did some pleasureflights on behalf of the march and operated on the football field of Oostduinkerke. On Friday the 24th we went to Diksmuide to see the alouette II operating from the football field for pleasureflights and paradroppings.

Active Trip excercise

For the Active Trip 2500 people were mobilized to participate in the exercise. The evacuation exercise was being held in the Antwerp and Koksijde region. Four C-130's participated the exercise and made several landings at Koksijde on Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 October 2007. On Tuesday all the movements were in the dark, but on Wednesday three C-130's made one landing each during daylight.

SAR-meet

After a very long time, a SAR-meet was being organized again by the 40th Sqn in Koksijde from Monday the 15th till Friday the 19th of October. On Monday all the teams arrived to be ready for the first missions to be flown on Tuesday morning. Tuesday in the afternoon more tests were held in the swimming pool. On Wednesday morning a precision winching exercise was held on the beach of Oostduinkerke and a spottersday was organized so that photographers could take some pictures of the winchings. Participants were 303 Sqn based in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands flying with the AB.412SP. Italy came with a HH-3F of 15° Stormo based at Cervia. The German Air Force participated with a UH-1D from LTG-63 based at Hohn. The French navy came from the nearby Le Touquet with their Dauphin helicopter. The Belgian Air Force participated with a Seaking, Alouette II and Alouette III. 303 Sqn from Leeuwarden took the trophy with them back home!

Arrival Sinterklaas

This year, sinterklaas arrived from Spain in an Alouette III and brought a lot of presents for the children of the military personnel at Koksijde.

Sea King - 2007

This is a selection of pictures taken in 2007 of the Sea King MK.48 of the 40th Sqn based at Koksijde. These pictures were made during normal training missions at Koksijde and surroundings.