Koksijde 2012

Koksijde Opendoor

On Wednesday the 29th of August an open-door was held at Koksijde with the theme "Hulp aan de natie", "Support to the nation". In the static display a C-130, A.109 and ERJ-135 were displayed in their (medical) evacuation role. Two medical helicopters could be found in the static display as well as the Belgian North Sea Survey aircraft, a Britten Norman Islander. A MD900 from the Federal Police support unit did some spectacular demonstrations with the special intervention unit. There were also demonstrations of the other tasks the unit does: cargosling and a bambi-bucket demonstration. After the open-door, some of the aircraft were towed onto the runway and served as scenery for the first Runway Run. This is a running race for charity on the runway of an active airfield!

Koksijde : January

Traditionally at the beginning of January there is more F-16 activity then the rest of the year. There were some base attacks as well as training approaches. The second part of the month was dominated by marchetti's.

Koksijde : February

February was a very calm month. Fortunately there were some F-16's for training approaches in very nice weather conditions, which resulted into great pictures.

Koksijde : March

At the beginning of the month, two Royal Navy Lynx HMA.8 based at Yeovilton refuelled on their way to De Kooy. On the 14th of March there was a demonstration of a new PAR (Precision Approach Radar) console in the tower. To demonstrate this, 5 F-16's based at Florennes made a PAR approach. On the 27th of March, A.109 H-24 arrived at Koksijde to be repainted in demo colours for the next airshow season.

Koksijde : April

On the 11th of April, A.109 H-24 was repainted and assembled again. The result is a great paint scheme with each side of the helicopter showing the squadron insignia that operates the agusta in the Belgian Air Force. They first did an air-to-air photo-shoot before leaving to Beauvechain. On the 19th two French Air Force alpha jet's came to Koksijde for an approach.

Koksijde : May

The 3rd of May was a sad day for Koksijde. The 21st Logistic Wing of the Belgian Air Force transported Sikorsky HSS.1 B4/OT-ZKD to the museum storage in Vissenaken. We hope the helicopter will be preserved in a good condition and that it will remain in its original colours...

Koksijde : June - July

July brought us some visitors for UK airshows. On the 4th of July a beautifully decorated German Navy Sea King MK.41 refuelled on its way to RIAT in Fairford and some other British shows. The same day the Royal Jordanian Falcons with their four Extra 300's made a fuel stop as well. On the 10th of July three British Lynx AH.7's made a fuel stop en-route to Germany where they did a navigation trip. One day later they returned to the UK. On the 18th a French Army TBM700 visited Koksijde, which is exceptional.

Koksijde : August

On the second of August we got visit from 298 Sqn in Gilze Rijen with one of their mighty chinooks. On the 13th three British Lynx AH.9's based at Gütersloh in Germany refuelled on their way to the UK. A fourth Lynx AH.9 refuelled on the 16th. All the crews flew back to Gütersloh with 5 Lynx AH.7's on the 17th.

Koksijde : September

September was a marchetti month. On the 18th four marchetti's came to Koksijde for a lunch stop. They like the food so much that the day after, again four marchetti's enjoyed a meal at Koksijde.

Koksijde : October

On the second of October a Belgian Air Force Alpha jet made an approach, which has become very rare in our region since 2004 unfortunately. Later in the afternoon a US Army blackhawk made a nice low approach on request of the tower on its way back from Mildenhall to Wiesbaden in Germany. On the 10th another blackhawk made a low pass over the runway on its way to Mildenhall, which they did again on their way back on the 12th. I hope they come to Koksijde more often in the future! On the 30th four apaches made a low pass over the runway en-route to Mildenhall for an exercise in the UK.

Koksijde : November

On the 20th a Belgian Air Force Alpha jet made 3 touch and go's on RWY11, which was nice to see. Later that day we saw 3 A.109's making a fuel stop en-route to Odiham in the UK for an exercise. Three other A.109's made a fuel stop as well that day. On the 28th the 3 agustas returned from Odiham, but as it was already in late afternoon, they decided to stay a night at Koksijde before they continued to their home base in Beauvechain.

Koksijde : December

On the third of December 3 British Lynx AH.7's made a night stop at Koksijde on their way to France for an exercise until the 13th of October. On the 5th of December a large RO-RO ship (The Baltic Ace) collided with a containership (Corvus J) in the Dutch part of the North Sea. The Baltic Ace sank within 15 minutes and 11 people died in the ice cold water. 7 out of the 13 surviving people were rescued with a Belgian Sea King. A British S.61 used for SAR in the Netherlands brought some bodies to Koksijde as well.

1W NATEVALprep 01

From Monday the 16th till Friday the 20th of April, seven A.109BA from the 1W Heli based at Beauvechain were deployed at Koksijde for their first preparation session for the NATO Evaluation of the Wing in June 2013. They arrived on Monday and flew missions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. On Tuesday night missions were flown as well. The end of this exercise was marked with a formation flight of 3 A.109's, a Sea King and an Alouette III on Thursday afternoon.

National Defilé 2012

For the 2012 defilé, a Netherlands Air Force NH-90NFH was flown over to Koksijde to join the 40th Sqn helicopters in a formation over Brussels. The NH-90NFH was piloted by Jo "Bal" Balcaen, which is the first Belgian instructor pilot. The formation departed in perfect weather conditions and came over in formation before they left to Brussels.

Creval 01

On Monday the 15th of October exercise Creval (combat readiness evaluation) started. This exercise is an evaluation for army battalions to prove they are combat ready. On Monday two C-130's dropped troops and vehicles in 6 runs. The rest of the week the troops had to operate independent in a combat situation. Only on the first day the exercise contained C-130 operations. Unfortunately the weather was not good, but still nice images could be made.

1W NATEVALprep 02

From Tuesday the 4th till Thursday the 6th of December, seven A.109BA from the 1W Heli based at Beauvechain were deployed at Koksijde for their second preparation session for the NATO Evaluation of the Wing in June 2013. Six agustas first went to Le Touquet on Tuesday and arrived in Koksijde late afternoon in formation. On Tuesday evening, Wednesday and Thursday morning missions were flown. As bad weather was expected on Thursday evening and Friday, they decided to leave to Beauvechain already on Thursday afternoon. They left as they arrived, in a very nice formation.

Creval 02

On Monday the 10th of December another army battalion had to prove they are combat ready in a CREVAL exercise. Equally with the previous exercise being held in October, only on the first day there were C-130 operations. Unfortunately the weather was not good as well with a lot of wind and even some rain. We did our best to make some descent pictures.

Sea King - 2012

This is a selection of pictures taken in 2012 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.