Koksijde 2019

Koksijde : January

January started again traditional with the many F-16 low approaches. The pilots haven't flown for at least two weeks and they need their qualifications again, so we got quiet some practice approaches at Koksijde. On the 9th the Sea King spottersday was being held, so we got some nice visitors that day. The next day one A.109 came in for a fuelstop. On the 14th C-130 CH-11 made four approaches after its testflight, and the next day CH-12 made two IFR approaches. On the 16th two French Air Force Alpha Jets based at Tours made an instrument approach before they continued to Melsbroek to stay the night. On the 18th a 21 Sqn ERJ-145 made two approaches which is quiet a rare sight at Koksijde.

Koksijde : February

On the 5th, 12th and 19th a Federal Police MD520N helicopter came to Koksijde for pilot training. They did a lot of autorotation exercises on the runway. On the 15th one NH-90MTH protected by two Agustas made a landing at the beach of Oostduinkerke to pick up some persons. That must have been an awesome sight! On the 19th and 27th some French Air Force Alpha jets from Tours made some IFR approaches again before they continued to Melsbroek for a nightstop. Apparently they must like Brussels a lot. On the 20th there was again an exercise with 1W helicopters, but this time the formation consisted out of two NH-90MTH and one Agusta. They came in to take some gas. On the 21st three Dutch Chinooks, three Dutch Apaches and one Dutch Cougar passed overhead on their way to Carlisle for their annually Tactical Blaze exercise. The next day another Cougar passed on its way to Scotland. On the 12th a Royal Netherlands Air Force PC-12 made two touch and go's.

Koksijde : March

March was a pretty busy month. As 10 Belgian Air Force F-16's and a lot of pilots were at Nellis in the United States of America to participate the famous "Red Flag" exercise, some of the few remaining F-16's came to our coastal base throughout the month to make practice approaches. On the 12th, 13th and 21st the QRA's made it to West-Flanders and brought us a visit. At the end of the month a nice 3-ship formation of F-16's came over the airfield and one was the OCU special tail. On the 5th two French Air Force Alpha Jets came to Koksijde for an IFR approach again before continuing to Melsbroek to stay overnight. On the 8th two Chinooks and three Apaches passed over the airfield again on their way back home after their annually Tactical Blaze exercise at the Scottish Carlisle. On the 19th both the German Navy and Norwegian Air Force Sea Kings arrived after a long flight. The Germans came from Kiel in Northern Germany, while the Norwegians came from Rygge in Southern Norway. Both came all the way to Koksijde to participate in the "Farewell Sea King"-event on the 21st. The Norwegian Sea King was a very rare visitor as they don't leave Norway very often. On the 20th both Sea Kings did a flight together with our sole remaining airworthy Sea King over the sea and afterwards over the airfield. On the 22nd both Sea Kings left Koksijde again homewards when the fog was cleared up a bit. Thanks a lot to the X-servicing for parking the Sea Kings close to the fence, so the many spectators outside the fence could have a close watch. On Friday the crew did a nice 360 on the ground and hovered over the platform before taxiing in front of the West Aviation Club clubhouse to the active runway, all to please the many spotters at the fence!! On the 27th and 28th an Ecureuil came to Koksijde again to film the cycling game "Driedaagse Brugge - De Panne". On the 28th a NH-90MTH did some winching exercises on one of the bunkers at the airfield before leaving back to Beauvechain.

Koksijde : April

The month started with a Belgian Air Force Alpha Jet that made one low approach. The last 15 years this became a rare sight, but since the Belgian Air Force stopped using these aircraft as trainer aircraft this is even rarer. Normally the Alpha Jet will be retired from service at the end of this year. There were again some F-16's that came to Koksijde for some training approaches, and on the 5th Mike was able to make some really nice banking shots from its back garden from FB24 turning final for RWY11. On the 3rd the Cessna Citation of the Dutch Aerospace Center came to Koksijde again to calibrate our navigation aids. On the 10th an ERJ-145 based at Melsbroek passed two times performing some first flights during the Beauvechain Air Base days. On the 12th, 24th and 26th a C-130 came to Koksijde to do some IFR procedures. We also had quiet some Marchetti's for training approaches and full stops. On the 23rd there were five Marchetti's making a full stop, which was a nice view at the visitor's ramp. To make the party complete, four out of five taxied via S3 taxiway to holding point RWY11.

Koksijde : May and June

The month of May started with four French Air Force Alpha Jets that made an IFR approach on their way back to their homebase Cazaux. Two out of four made it pretty close to the ground so decent pictures could be taken. On the 3rd an Irish Air Corps AW139 flew over after having some maintenance at the Leonardo facilities in Liege. On the 8th an NH-90MTH from Beauvechain brought some people in the morning and picked them up again in the afternoon. The same day two PC-7's from the Royal Netherlands Air Force based at Woensdrecht made some IFR approaches. On the 14th an F-16 from Volkel Airbase in the Netherlands came to Koksijde for two IFR approaches. We often get some F-16's but a foreign one is very rare. On the 20th two B-Hunter UAV's from the 80th Sqn UAV at Florennes arrived for their annually summer deployment. On the 26th two Royal Air Force Puma helicopters passed overhead after making a nightstop in Ostend on their way back home from the Tigermeet in Mont-de-Marsan. Furthermore quiet some F-16's brought some jetnoise and came to the coast for approaches or overshoots.

June was really dominated by F-16's from Kleine Brogel. On the 21st we even got five different F-16's for low approaches! The D-day special painted F-16 from 349 Sqn came to say hello a couple of times so we could enjoy this nice artwork. On the 12th the fuselage of Agusta H-03 was brought with a truck to support the annual crash exercise. On the 14th a US Army Chinook and Blackhawk passed overhead on their way from Biggin Hill to Ostend after supporting the visit of the president of the United States to the UK to commemorate D-day. On the 17th ex Royal Air Force Sea King HAR.3A ZH542 left the base on a truck to be scrapped, so this was the very last time this beautiful helicopter could be seen. Until now there are no details known where the helicopter went to. On the 27th an Irish Air Corps AW139 passed over Koksijde on their way to Liege to get some maintenance in the Leonardo helicopters facilities.


Koksijde : July

July was a very busy and interesting month bringing some very nice visitors to Koksijde. The first two weeks we still had the deployment of 80 Sqn UAV with their B-Hunters before their summer break. The D-day striped 349 Sqn F-16AM FA-124 visited Koksijde a couple of times giving us several occasions to make some pictures of it. On the 4th and 5th an A.109 made a fuel/lunch stop during an IFR training flight. On the 5th the Red Devils arrived for the BOACK and did daily two displays out of Koksijde. On the 16th two Royal Navy Wildcats made a fuelstop on their way back to Yeovilton. On the 19th a Netherlands Air Force Cougar made a fuelstop on its way to Fairford for the RIAT. On the 22nd two Army Air Corps Apaches came in for fuel on their way to their homebase Wattisham in the UK. The same day an Italian Air Force HH-101A Caesar and a HH-139A made a fuelstop on their way back to Italy after their participation at the RIAT in Fairford. A Netherlands Air Force Chinook made a low pass on their way to Gilze Rijen that day. On the 26th a Dutch PC-7 made 3 IFR approaches. On the 30th another HH-101A Caesar made a fuel stop during their delivery flight on their way from the Leonardo factory in Yeovil to Italy.

Koksijde : August

What was a regular visitor in the past has become rare nowadays, on the 5th a Netherlands Air Force Chinook came in for a low approach and went back to Gilze Rijen afterwards. From Monday 19th till Friday 23rd an A.109 did some Para droppings along the track of the "vierdaagse van de Ijzer" and came in for fuel each day. On the 20th an ERJ-135 and an A.109 did some pleasure flights out of Koksijde in relation to the "vierdaagse van de Ijzer" march as well. On the 22nd a Piper L-21B from the Luchtkadetten came to Koksijde for a visit which is a very welcome but rare visitor. On the 26th the D-day painted C-130 CH11 made an impressive low pass over RWY11 on its way back to Melsbroek. On the 27th and 28th there were some extra visitors in relation to the Open door which was being held on the 28th. For this occasion they put the arrestor barrier and two Panther crash tenders in Koksijde so F-16's were able to land in Koksijde again. This always brings back some memories of the many airshows being held in the past... On the 26th Irish Air Corps AW139 277 passed overhead on its way to Liege for maintenance and the same crew brought back number 279 on the 29th which just had maintenance.

Koksijde : September

September means the start of night flights again and on the 2nd the 349 Sqn D-day painted F-16 made a low approach during sunset! The B-Hunter UAV's arrived at the end of August for their autumn deployment and flew most of the days a mission over the North sea. On the 5th an NH-90MTH from the 18 Sqn MRH came in for a fuel stop. On the 6th a US Army Apache and Chinook based at Ansback in Germany came in for fuel on their way to the UK for an exercise. The Apache was part of 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment "Assassins". The Chinook was part of the 1st General Support Aviation Battalion, 214th Aviation Regiment "Big Windy". Both helicopters passed overhead again on their way to Charleroi on the 14th, unfortunately they didn't need a fuel stop in Koksijde anymore. On the 10th and 12th the Air Support Unit of the Federal Police came to do some training flights at Koksijde with their helicopters. On the 10th they came with one MD902, but on the 12th they brought an MD902 and MD520. The same moment another MD902 came in for fuel so a nice lineup of police helicopters was made. On the 13th a Royal Navy Wildcat made a fuel stop on its way to the airshow in Sanicole. On Sunday they flew over again on their way back home in Yeovilton after making a fuel stop at Ostend Airport. On the 19th, 21st, 24th and 25th large formations of British Army Air Corps Apaches and Wildcats passed over Koksijde on their way to South-eastern France for the exercise Bacarat 2019. This was an impressive sight, especially the Apache formations which caught the attention to many people along their route. On the 26th an Irish Air Corps AW139 made a last minute fuel stop on their way to Liege for maintenance. They didn't intend to land, but bad weather forced them to make a fuel stop at Koksijde, which was a nice surprise for the spotters.

Koksijde : October

The autumn deployment of 80 Sqn UAV with four B-Hunters came to an end on October the 4th. On the 8th an A.109 made an IFR approach on its way to Le Touquet for a lunch stop. On its way back to Beauvechain, they made another two IFR approaches. From Tuesday 15th till Friday 18th two Panther crashtenders were brought to Koksijde to increase the fire cat level to allow C-130 training each day. On the first day C-130 CH-04 made seven touch and go's. The next day a Dutch C-130H-30 G-275 made 2 touch and go's which is very rare at Koksijde. On Thursday it was excellent weather and from 10h till 13h it was really busy. First F-16 FB-17 made 7 low approaches including some simulated engine flame out procedures. This is a very unusual sight in Koksijde but really nice to see! A second F-16 with tiger striped drop tanks, made two approaches. After that the C-130 action started. C-130 CH-04 landed and left again for a navigation flight over the Flanders region to come back and make two simulated drops over the airfield. As this was not enough, a second C-130 CH-01 joined the circuit for 9 touch and go's. By that time C-130 CH-04 came back for a simulated drop again followed by some touch and go's as well. For about 15 minutes both CH-01 and CH-04 were circuit bashing at the same time! This was more than 10 years ago that we've seen this at Koksijde! On the final day a Dutch C-130H G-781 made one approach in very bad weather conditions, closing a nice week with lots of action. On the 25th two NH-90MTH from Beauvechain crossed the CTR on their way to the UK for an exercise. They came back on the 31st.

Koksijde : November and December

November was really a calm month with only two A.109's making a fuel stop. On the 26th four US Army CH-47F Chinooks flew over Koksijde at high altitude on their way to Northolt in the UK. They supported the visit of President Trump to London to commemorate the 70th anniversary of NATO.

December brought us more training approaches of F-16's. On the 11th an A.109 made a fuel stop and this was the last visitor of the year. On the 17th C-130 CH-12 made five training approaches after a test flight. On the 18th AW139 277 of the Irish Air Corps passed overhead on their way back home after heavy maintenance at the Liege Agusta maintenance facilities.


Sea King Spottersday

On Wednesday afternoon January 9th a photocall was being organized by Koksijde airbase for 250 lucky people. After a quick ID check and pickup of the specially made badge for the event, everyone could enter the dedicated area at the beginning of RWY02. Sea King RS04 and RS05 were put in static display, as well as a marchetti ST41 which arrived just before the event started. Soon after we arrived, RS02 -the star of the day- was being towed to the helipad for the flights later that afternoon and evening. To support the photocall some visitors of the Belgian Air Force came to our coastal airbase. A marchetti made some touch and go's, a C-130 and ERJ-135 made some practice approaches and two F-16's made a base attack. Big surprise was a NATO E-3A Awacs which made an approach at the start of the event. There were some small demonstrations of an A.109, NH-90MTH and NH-90NFH, Alouette III and offcourse the star of the day: the Sea King. The weather was the weather we can expect early January: ice cold northerly wind, rain, hail and sun. When the sun was set it was time for a nightshoot. Four light units were installed which lighted the helipad very good and all three based helicopter types were presented very nice. The strong wind made good night photography very difficult, but we are still very happy about the results. We would like to thank all the crews and support personnel to make this great day happen. We hope more small events like this will be possible in the future.

Last flight RS02

Sunday January 13th was again a sad day as the third Sea King was being retired. They took off at 14:09 and flew till 15:56. After take-off they first made a low pass before continuing with seawork. After their seawork they went to AZ St Jan hospital in Brugge for two LZ landings. They returned back to Koksijde via the coastline, the scenery where this lady was being flown for over 42 years. Again a low pass was made and after her final landing, a water salute of the fire department was given before her last shutdown. The first flight of RS02 was on April 8th 1976, had 12.502 hrs on the clock and 738 scrambles till its final retirement. Thank you for serving us so well!

Last flight RS04

On Friday February 15th, Sea King RS04 made its last flight out of Koksijde airbase. It was the last airworthy Sea King in its original color scheme. After take-off, they did an ILS approach at Ostend and then went over the sea for a training flight. Before touching down for the final time they showed that the old lady is still alive and did some spectacular low passes and tight turns. After landing the fire department gave her a last shower before shutting down the engines for the last time. During the same flight, flight engineer Tommy Lanoye, logged its 3000th hour flown on Sea King. RS04 made its first flight on May 7th 1976 and made its final flight, 703 scrambles later, with 12.219 hrs on the clock.

Goodbye Sea King - Landing Knokke beach

Thursday March 21st was the official goodbye from the Sea King community to the Belgian people with a number of events throughout the day. In the morning the last remaining airworthy Sea King made a beach landing at each of the 10 Belgian coastal villages to hand over a beach flag to the mayor marking "1757 Lives Saved - 3309 Interventions - 60000 Flight Hours - 43 Years Loyal Service". As this was announced in the media well before, this event attracted a lot of people to the beaches, that came to say goodbye to this mighty legend. The first landing on the beach was at Knokke at 09h30. Hugo De Groote went to the beach and made these nice pictures.

Goodbye Sea King - Landing Nieuwpoort beach

Next in our overview is Nieuwpoort, where the Sea King landed at 10h50.

Goodbye Sea King - Landing De Panne beach

Next landing after Nieuwpoort was De Panne near the French border at 11h05. The mayor of Koksijde was picked up at De Panne to fly in the Sea King to his own village, Koksijde.

Goodbye Sea King - Landing Koksijde beach

The last landing was at Koksijde beach at 11h15, near the homebase where this legendary helicopter was based for almost 43 years. They first did a flypast before winching the mayor with the beach flag in front of the massive public on the beach. The beach flag was mounted on the pole together with the former BaseCO "Rudy Theys" and former SAR diver "Walter - Seabeast - Vanweymeersch". Then the Sea King landed and remained on the beach for a couple of minutes so the public could have a good look for the very last time. After take-off they performed another impressive low pass at high speed and returned back to base.

Goodbye Sea King

On Thursday afternoon the 21st of March the official farewell event was held for the press and 800 invited guests that made the long and rich history of the Sea King a success. Around 15h15 Sea King RS-05, a Norwegian Air Force Sea King and a German Navy Sea King took the skies to make a last formation flight over West-Vlaanderen. They flew from Diksmuide to the hospital of Bruges, via the coastline to the Maritime Search and Rescue Center at Ostend, Ostend Airport and again via the coastline back to Koksijde. At Nieuwpoort a NH-90NFH and Alouette III joined the formation and the 5-ship formation arrived around 16h25 over the airbase. After 3 passes over the airbase in different formations, the formation broke up and all the helicopters landed, except for RS-05. Both the foreign Sea Kings taxied in front of the Herpain hangar to wait for the Belgian Sea King to join them. After shutdown of the helicopters it was time for the very last SAR demo of a Belgian Sea King. At 16h52 RS-05 touched down and got a water salute before shutting down the engines in front of the public. The last crew got an honor salute from the NH-90 community to thank them for 43 years of loyal service. This marked the official last landing of a Sea King in service with the Belgian Air Force.

Last flight RS05

On Tuesday March 26th at 16h32lt, Sea King RS05 touched down for the very last time at Ostend Airport, after a short hop from its homebase Koksijde. This was the final Sea King in service and this event marked the end of Sea King operations in the Belgian Air Force after almost 43 years. The airframe was acquired by the "Vlaams Luchtvaart Opleidings Centrum - VLOC" and will serve as an instructional airframe to train student aircraft mechanics.
RS05 made its first flight on June 7th 1976 at the Westland facilities in Yeovil and was delivered to Koksijde on November 8th 1976 where it stayed for the rest of its life to serve as a SAR helicopter. 12.222 hrs and 707 scrambles were flown without any incidents, only to prove how reliable this helicopter is. This is really the end now, goodbye king of the sea, you will be missed...

Sea King HAR.3A ZH542 - the end

On tuesday November 24th 2015 at 12h13lt, Sea King HAR.3A ZH542 (c/n WA1008) from the A flight 22 Sqn of the Royal Air Force, touched down at Koksijde for the very last time. Belgian Defence bought this Sea King from the Brits to strip the airframe down and use the spare parts to keep the Belgian Sea King fleet in the air. As all the useful parts were used and the Sea King operations stopped, the airframe didn't have to be kept anymore. A scrap dealer came to pick up the airframe on 17 June 2019. No further info is known what they will do with the Sea King.

Belgian Open Aerobatics Championship 2019

This year's BENELUX competition brought a lot more participants AND airplanes to Koksijde than previous years. Highlights were two Soviet build aerobatic aircraft, a Yak 55 and a Swiss Sukhoi 26M in Breitling colors. These were two nice variations on top of the usual Extra's, Cap's and Pitt's aircraft. Blessed with excellent flying weather, the whole flying program could be flown during the whole competition. The winner of the unlimited competition was once again Kristof Cloetens. Well done!

Open Door West Aviation Club

Like the previous years, the West Aviation Club held their annual open door the same weekend as the BOACK. Blessed with excellent weather all weekend, about 10.000 people came to the coast and visited the event. In static display there was an UH-1D Huey in US Army colors owned by the Huey218 group. The helicopter has been restored in original US Army configuration and you can have a look inside the helicopter during events. Additional, some reenactors with a tent camp were added to make it even more realistic. Another "static only" helicopter was Sea King RS-03 which was bought by the city of Koksijde. In the air, the successor of the Sea King, the NH-90 could be seen on Sunday only as on Saturday they had a scramble that prevented them to do a winching demonstration. As a yearly tradition the Red Devils did some very nice demonstrations up in the air as on the ground during the weekend. Also the Stearman from 46Aviation came all the way from Switzerland to show the public a wingwalker demonstration. And last but not least, world champion glider aerobatics "Luca Bertossio" with 7 gold, 7 silver and 4 bronze medals showed some breathtaking manouvres in its Red Bull glider.

Open Door

On Wednesday August 28th the base of Koksijde organized an Open door again to show the public what Belgian defence and Koksijde Airbase in particular, does. The weather was perfect for the Open door: light temperatures and some high clouds. Around 10.000 people came to the Airbase which was open from 12h30 till 17h00. In static display there was an A.109, B-Hunter UAV, Marchetti, NH-90NFH, Alouette III, Sea King and an F-16. 349 Sqn based at Kleine Brogel brought their most beautifully painted F-16 to Koksijde for static display. In the air there were demonstrations of an A.109, the Red Devils, Alouette III, SAR demo of NH-90NFH, a base attack of two Florennes based F-16's and the Belgian Air Force F-16 Solo display! It was the first time an F-16 did a Solo Display at Koksijde airbase since the last airshow in 2011. For the occasion of the Open door they installed an arrestor cable and brought extra Panther crash tenders so the F-16's even could land at Koksijde. As this wasn't enough they decided let the F-16 to taxi in and out via the S3 taxiway which is the closest taxiway to the Aero club. This attracted a lot of people at the fence to watch Vador with its Black Falcon from up close!! On Thursday Vador did some passes in formation with one Marchetti of the Red Devils to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Marchetti and the 40th anniversary of the F-16. This was the end of an excellent Open Door, which brought back some good memories of the airshows in the past.