Koksijde 2008

Airday : Arrivals

The main arrival day for the "Airday" was on Wednesday the 27th of August. Unfortunately weather was very dull all day long. Italy participated with two Tornado's based at Ghedi, of which one was in great camouflage colours and the other one had a special tail. The German Navy showed their special painted Sea King, and the French a special painted Alpha Jet marking 100.000 hrs flown on the Alpha Jet.

Airday : 28 August 2008

For the "Airday" three Mirage 2000C's from BA115 Orange were sent over to Koksijde. They did a combined demo with the Belgian Air Force F-16 demo, as well as a solo display and dual display!. As the event was during the week, some formations of F-16's flew over the airfield. There was a formation of nine F-16's from 349 Sqn, and a formation of four F-16's of 31 Sqn both from Kleine Brogel. To see an aircraft overview, click here.

Airday : Departures

On Friday all the participants left for their home base again. The Italian Tornado's remained low after departure which was very nice. Just before departure, a nice line-up of 3 Mirage 2000's could be seen at the holding point of RWY29.

Koksijde : January

Traditionally in the beginning of the year we have some F-16's for some approaches. This year we were really lucky with no less than 5 different F-16's on the first flying day of the year, this in excellent light conditions and RWY11 in use! On the 9th six A.109's came in to get some gas, though one was broken and had to stay a night at Koksijde. The next day another A.109 came with mechanics and a crew to pick up the sick agusta. The 16th was a nice day with lots of movements. A British Lynx AH.9 refueled on its way to the UK. A marchetti came for a lunch stop and C-130 CH01 landed at Koksijde to refill its flares dispensers after a test run at the Lombardsijde shooting range. C-130 CH07 came for some touch and go's, as well as two F-16's and a Tours based Alpha Jet.

Koksijde : February

The first day of the month was again jackpot with lots of F-16's. Two F-16's came in for 3 base attacks, and another three for one base attack. Another two F-16's came for some approaches during this very sunny day. On the 7th FA-58 came for one approach, this in a clean configuration which is rare. This airframe made a test flight after being stored in Weelde for two years and prior being delivered to Jordan later in the year. During the whole month a lot of marchetti's came to Koksijde for training approaches or full stop landings. On the 22nd two Cougars of the Netherlands Air Force came for a lunch stop to the coast.

Koksijde : March

On the 12th of March, two British Army Lynx AH.9's visited Koksijde for a fuel stop on their way to Gutersloh in Germany. On the 18th four Reims based Mirage F-1CR passed over Koksijde during a low level recce mission! On the last day of the month one of the four Bruggen based gazelles refueled on its way to the UK. They came back later that day on its way back to Germany. Jens was lucky as they taxied to the runway via the S3 taxiway near the aero club!

Koksijde : April

April was again a busy month with at the beginning of the month the helicopters for filming the 3-daagse van De Panne bicycle race. A lot of French alpha jets came to Koksijde for some approaches. On the 7th two even made a fuel stop. On the 22th two Mirage F-1CR passed again overhead Koksijde during a low level recce mission. On the 9th two merlin helicopters came in for fuel: one British and one Danish example of which the Danish even stayed a night. Also a lot of British Lynx helicopters paid a visit to Koksijde this month.

Koksijde : May

May was dominated by British Seakings. On the 6th three Royal Navy Seaking HC.4's based at Yeovilton took some fuel at Koksijde on their way to the east. On the 14th they returned via Koksijde back to Yeovilton. On the same day a SAR Seaking MK.3 based at Wattisham made a fuel stop as well. These are not often seen at Koksijde. On the 28th an Italian AMX based at Florennes for the TLP made one approach late afternoon.

Koksijde : June

On the 3rd five Indian Air Force Druv helicopters passed overhead Koksijde en-route from a fuel stop at Melsbroek to the Air Fair in Biggin Hill. This was a very nice formation of very rare helicopters. On the 9th a German CH-53 refueled on its way to Northolt near London. On the 12th it returned via Koksijde and stayed overnight. On the 20th three Czech Air Force L-159 Alca made a low pass over the runway. These were part of a deployment of four L-159's at Kleine Brogel. On the 23rd two again flew over Koksijde towards the sea.

Koksijde : July

On the 9th we had German Navy Seaking MK.41 "89+64" on visit for the first time this month. This particular airframe was adored with a great color scheme to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Search and Rescue in Germany. This Seaking visited Koksijde not less than four times in July. The helicopter went to the Royal International Air Tattoo in Fairford, to the Weston-Super-Mare helidays and to the Airday in Culdrose and refueled at Koksijde on its way to and from these events. Due to the RIAT we had a Germany BO-105 and UH-1D on visit, a Czech Mi-35 made a low pass on request of the tower but did not touched the ground. For the helidays in Weston-Super-Mare another German CH-53G visited Koksijde, although only a fuel stop on its way back to Germany.

Koksijde : August

August was a calm month again. A couple of British Army lynx AH.9 refueled on their way to and from Germany. From the 20th on, an Alouette II was based at Koksijde to perform paradroppings along the track of the march "4-daagse van de Ijzer". On 25, 26 and 27th of August two C-130's were based at Koksijde for the exercise "Storm Tide". The evacuation exercise was held in Ostend city, and the people were evacuated to Koksijde and troops were flown into Ostend via Koksijde. On the 26th a French Xingu made a visit to Koksijde. On the next day three Royal Navy Junglies refueled at Koksijde coming from their homebase in Yeovilton. On the 28th the "Airday" was being held, which brought a lot of visitors with them, unfortunately in bad weather.

Koksijde : September

On the 1st a Belgian ERJ-135 did some trainings and a Falcon 20 as well, and during their training they did a formation pass over the airfield. A lot of French alpha jet's visited Koksijde in September. On the 3rd a French alpha jet made a night stop at Koksijde. The Alpha Jet was still painted in the old camouflage colors, which is very rare nowadays. On the 10th another French Alpha Jet landed. On the 4th the three Junglies that fueled at Koksijde came back on their way home. Furthermore some British Army Lynx AH.7's made a fuel stop in Koksijde during the month.

Koksijde : October

On the 22th a French Army Puma which was based in the military seaport of Zeebrugge for an exercise made a fuel stop. On the same day a Netherlands Air Force C-130 made some training approaches. On the next day the same French Puma came back to transport some high ranking French Navy officers to Zeebrugge that arrived with a French Navy Falcon 10MER.

Koksijde : November - December

November was very quiet. On the 20th an ERJ-145 made a landing at Koksijde, and on the 24th a Falcon 20. Some Netherlands Air Force PC-7's based at Woensdrecht came to Koksijde for some training approaches during the month. On the 4th of December not less than six F-16's came to Koksijde to make some approaches! On the 19th of December the last flying day with nice weather brought us some visitors as well. Three A.109's and one marchetti came to Koksijde to end this flying year.

Last flight RS01

On Wednesday the 17th of December, Cdt. Vl. Karel "Fozzy" Kinable, Lt. Kol. Vl. Rudy "Baseco" Theys and Flight engineer Ajd. Maj. Lu. Vp. Rudy Debergh flew Sea King RS01 on its last flight. After take-off, two Sea Kings and one Alouette III joined them for some formation passes over the squadron. Afterwards RS01 headed to the Jubelpark in Brussels where it landed in front of the Brussels Air Museum. After landing, a technical crew disassembled the rotor blades and the helicopter was being towed into the Museum. RS01 flew for the first time on the 19th of December 1975, had 10585 hours on the clock and 523 scrambles were flown with it.

Sea King - 2008

This is a selection of pictures taken in 2008 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.