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Koksijde 2024
Koksijde : January
On the first flying day of the year we already got some nice visitors from Beauvechain: two A.109's and one Marchetti made a lunch stop. Kleine-Brogel also came with New year wishes in shape of one F-16 which made some training approaches. The first foreign visitor of the year was an Irish Air Corps AW139 for a quick fuel stop on its way home after maintenance in the Leonardo facilities in Liege. At the end of the month an A400M made some landings during the day and came back later in the evening for night flight.
Koksijde : February
On the first day of February A400M CT-06 made some full stop landings and touch and go's. On the 13th one Royal Netherlands Navy NH-90NFH from 860 Sqn based at De Kooy arrived to fly some local missions and work together with the 40th Sqn at Koksijde. They departed back home on the 15th. Furthermore, the usual Marchetti's and F-16's which made some training approaches.
Koksijde : March
Nearby Ostend Airport was closed in February and March for runway works, and this brought us some visits of the Belgian Coastguard Britten Norman Islander for refueling. On the 20th and 21st one Ecureuil helicopter was based at Koksijde to film the bicycle race 'Classic Brugge - De Panne'. On the 22nd one Royal Netherlands Air Force PC-7 made two IFR approaches.
Koksijde : April - June
In the first week of April a Royal Netherlands Air Force PC-7 made two IFR approaches. The Citation of the Dutch NLR came to calibrate the navigation aids later that week. As of the second week of April until half May, the base was mainly closed due to shortage of ATC personnel.On the 17th of May two A.109's and two NH-90TTH based at Beauvechain, arrived to be based for one week for the exercised 'Storm Tide'. On the 23rd one Royal Air Force Chinook HC.5 came in for fuel on its way back to Odiham after an exercise in Eastern Europe. On the 30th the QRA F-16's made one low approach and continued over the North Sea. After playing for about 15 minutes over sea, they accompanied four Spanish Navy EAV-8B+ Harriers to Kleine-Brogel at low level! The four jets took off from the Spanish Navy carrier Juan Carlos which was in the North Sea Channel near Le Havre. They made one approach in Kleine-Brogel and returned to their ship at high level. What an awesome sight that was! On the last day of the month three British Army wildcats made a fuel stop on their way back home after an exercise in Eastern Europe.
As from the 3rd of June till the 9th of July, 147 Us Army Blackhawks, Chinooks and Apache helicopters refueled at Koksijde for operation 'Fort to Port'. On the 3rd of June the first of six German Navy Sea King helicopters made a fuel stop on its way from Nordholz in Germany to the UK. The German Navy retires its complete Sea King fleet at the end of August and six airframes are donated to Ukraine. Before deliveries to Ukraine, they are all being transferred to HeliOps in Portland in the UK. During their ferry flight all German Navy marking are being removed, and the registration is temporary applied with a big white sticker on the tail. On the 6th one Royal Air Force Juno Helicopter made a low approach on its way to Holzdorf for the 'Tag Der Bundeswehr'. On the 24th there was a press day for the 'Fort to Port' operation and one NH-90TTH and A.109 transferred some people between the port of Zeebrugge and Koksijde.
Koksijde : July
On the 2nd of July both the German Navy and Historic Helicopters Sea King arrived for the annual open door which was held on the next day. On the 4th one Royal Netherlands Air Force PC-7 made some touch and goes, and four Apaches flew over on their way back home from an exercise in Scotland. On the 8th the second German Navy Sea King for Ukraine made a fuel stop on its way to HeliOps in the UK. On the 9th one Royal Netherlands Air Force Cougar helicopter made a lunch stop and departed in pouring rain back to Gilze Rijen. As of the 15th the airbase was closed again for two weeks. The six Norwegian Air Force Saab Safari's were on their way to and from the Royal International Air Tattoo in Fairford and made a night stop in Ostend. The Slovakian Air Force blackhawk was on its way to and from the Farnborough airshow and made a fuel stop in Charleroi. On the 30th the third German Navy Sea King for Ukraine made a fuel stop. That day one NH-90TTH was deployed to Koksijde and made one local flight out of Koksijde.
Koksijde : August
August started again with the airbase being closed for the first two weeks. Therefor the 4th German Navy Sea King for Ukraine (89+66) made a fuel stop at Ostend Airport on the 6th of August. On the 19th the 5th German Navy Sea King made a fuel stop again in Koksijde. On the same day one A.109 arrived at Koksijde to be based for the whole week. The helicopter was used for paradropping along the track of the '4-daagse van de Ijzer' march. The 'K-9 day' event at the beach of Koksijde was held on the 23rd again and that brought us a Police MD902 helicopter to get some fuel. In the afternoon one Royal Air Force Chinook helicopter took some fuel on its way back to Odiham in the UK. The last week of the month, the airbase was closed again.