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 Hawker Hunter N-129, the gate guard I passed so many times during 1977-79, when I was based here. The squadron insignia (a black scorpion in yellow circle) is of 325 Squadron. |
 Fokker F.27 Friendship C-2 (c/n 10149) of 334 squadron, on take off in Oct.1974 The squadron insignia shows a white Pegasus on a blue and black field, in a vertical divided circle. |
 Fokker F.27 Troopship C-10 (c/n 10160) touching down at Soesterberg AB [Oct.74] History 334 sqdn, Radio callsign "Whitehorse" |
 The dignified white/silver paintscheme gave way to a camouflage paintjob, as seen on F.27 C-7 of 334 Sqdn. [12Jun75] Twelve aircraft were purchased by the Koninklijke Luchtmacht, the first three being F.27-100 friendships, the remainder were 37seater F.27M troopships. They were delivered between July 1960 (C-7 was delivered in Dec. 1960) and April 1961.. The fuselage -minus wings, nosecone & tailsection- of C-7 Troopship ended up in 2009 with the fire brigade of De Kooy airfield, near Den Helder (Netherlands). Previously it had been stored at Eindhoven. During 1996 (the year the KLu F.27s were decommissioned) and 2009 saw a great reduction of this PH-FBV/C-7 F.27-300M (c/n 10157), but it refuses to fade away.... |
 Lockheed T-33 M-11 (no date). Not sure what the unit was during the 1970s. |
| Lockheed T-33 M-21 (no date) Serials M-1 to M-36 were delivered ex/ Prestwick or Copenhagen between 22Aug52 and 19Oct55.
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The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star is an American-built jet trainer aircraft. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948, piloted by Tony LeVier. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then designated T-33A. [WIKIPEDIA] |
 McDonnell-Douglas F-4E Phantom II 69-254/CR landing with both the brake chute as well as the arrester hook deployed.. |
| An overshoot of F-4E 68-408/CR 32TFS (USAFE), Oct.1974. The Phantoms certainly provided a nice, loud roar when performing an overshoot!  |
| In 1913 the ' Luchtvaartafdeling' (LVA, Aviationdepartment) of the army, made its first flights here... ICAO airport identification of Soesterberg was: EHSB The car salesmen Verwey and Lugard of Den Haag (The Hague) created in 1910 in a field nearby Soesterberg an airfield. The terrain was bought in march 1913 by the State of The Netherlands to act as a base for an as yet to be founded (juli 1913) Luchtvaartafdeeling (LVA) , the forerunner of the present Koninklijke Luchtmacht (Dutch Royal Airforce). In WW2 Soesterberg did not play a significant role. It was bombarded in 1940 by the Luftwaffe and the runway was not repaired by the during occupation. Nevertheless, English bombardments completed its destruction. In 1951 Soesterberg Air Base was restored and operational again. Contrary to common USAFE structure, the 32 TFS under local (Dutch) operational command. The Dutch used this airfield esspecially by the 298-squadron, operating between 1969 en 1995 Alouette III helicopters. For a number of years, 334 transport squadron operated from Soesterberg AB too. |
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Spitfire PS853, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, visiting Soesterberg during the summer of 1976.  The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries through the Second World War and on into the 1950s as a frontline fighter and in secondary roles. It was produced in greater numbers than any other Allied design. The Spitfire was the only Allied fighter in production throughout the Second World War.The Spitfire was designed by R. J. Mitchell, chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works, since 1928 a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrongs. He continued to refine the design until his death from cancer in 1937, whereupon his colleague Joseph Smith became chief designer.[4] Its elliptical wing had a thin cross-section, allowing a higher top speed than the Hawker Hurricane and many other contemporary designs. [WIKIPEDIA] The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight operates various aircraft (as in 2009): Avro Lancaster, Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane, deHavilland DHC-1 Chipmunk and a Douglas Dakota. Their website. |
 The crew posing before departure. |
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 Handley Page Hastings T.5 TG517 of 266 Sqdn RAF. It supplied a spare propellor for BoB Spitfire PS853. 22Jun76 It was preserved at Newark Air Museum (Winthorpe, Newark, Nottinghamshire, UK. (Website) Frederick (later Sir Frederick) Handley Page first experimented with and built several biplanes and monoplanes at premises in Woolwich, Fambridge and Barking Creek, before settling on works at Cricklewood in North London and Radlett Aerodrome, Hertfordshire. His company, Handley Page Ltd, became the first public company to build aircraft when it was founded on 17th June 1909. Few of his early projects were memorable, in spite of unusual names like Bluebird, Antiseptic and Yellow Peril, until he embarked on the O/100 in 1911, then the largest aircraft built in Britain. Used primarily as a heavy night bomber, the O/100 featured folding wings, an enclosed cabin with bullet-proof glass and armour protection, and engines mounted in armoured nacelles. |
 Hawker Siddeley Dove VP965 RAF, flew support for the Battle of Britain Flight, summer 1976 The twin-engine deHavilland (later Hawker Siddeley) Dove arrived in 1945 on the scene, as a low wing design with retractable gear and a capacity for 11 passengers. It remained in production through the 1960s, with 554 Doves built, including 200 for military operators. |
Four North American Harvards were 'made over to look like 'Thunderbolts', for filming of 'A Bridge Too Far' (1977). Their markings were: HF-J 42-14392, HF-S 43-12885, HF-N 43-13168 & HF-B 43-42721. July 1976. |
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 Shackleton AEW.2 WL745/J RAF, 1975 It was developed by Avro from the Avro Lincoln bomber with a new fuselage. It was originally used primarily in the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) roles, and was later adapted for airborne early warning (AEW), search and rescue (SAR) and other roles from 1951 until 1990. It also served in the South African Air Force from 1957 to 1984. The type is named after the polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. [WIKIPEDIA] |
 One should not get the impression that visiting aircraft dropped in any day any time of the week... Air bases in Holland operating fighter aircraft, such as Leeuwarden and Volkel, got a bigger share of visitors than Soesterberg. A visit of a Shackleton was something we talked about for weeks... |
Avro was a British aircraft manufacturer, with numerous landmark designs such as the Avro 504 trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster which was one of the pre-eminent bombers during the Second World War and the delta wing Avro Vulcan, a stalwart of the Cold War.
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One of the world's first aircraft builders, A.V. Roe and Company was established at Brownsfield Mills, Manchester, by Alliott Verdon Roe and his brother H.V. Roe on 1 January 1910. Maintaining their skills in designing trainer aircraft, the company built a more robust biplane called the Avro Tutor in the 1930s that the Royal Air Force (RAF) also bought in quantity. A twin piston-engined airliner called the Anson followed but as tensions rose again in Europe the firm's emphasis returned to combat aircraft. The Avro Manchester, Lancaster, and Lincoln were particularly famous Avro designs. Over 7,000 Lancasters were built and their bombing capabilities led to their use in the famous Dam Busters raid. Of the total, nearly half were built at Avro's Woodford and Chadderton (Manchester) sites, with some 700 Lancasters built at the Avro "shadow" factory next to Leeds Bradford Airport (formerly Yeadon Aerodrome), north-west Leeds. This factory employed 17,500 workers at a time when the population of Yeadon was just 10,000. The old taxiway from the factory to the runway can still be seen. The civilian Lancastrian and maritime reconnaissance Shackleton were derived from the successful Lancaster design. The Tudor was a pressurised but problematic post-war Avro airliner that faced strong competition from designs by Bristol, Canadair, Douglas, Handley Page, and Lockheed. The postwar Vulcan bombers, originally designed as a nuclear strike aircraft, was used to maintain the British nuclear deterrent armed with the Avro Blue Steel stand-off nuclear bomb. A twin turboprop airliner, the Avro 748, was developed during the 1950s and sold widely across the globe, powered by two Rolls-Royce Dart engines. When the company was absorbed into Hawker Siddeley Aviation in July 1963, the Avro name ceased to be used. [WIKIPEDIA]
 Shackleton 54 J (Lossiemouth) 22Oct74 Looking at the weather here, I am now looking back thinking what on earth possessed me to hang around here..!? But on this day I got my money's worth, seeing and enjoying a rare Avro Shackleton visiting EHSB !! |
Pembroke WV729 RAF Wildenrath, 09Apr76It entered service with the Royal Air Force as the Percival Pembroke C.1 in 1953 to replace the Avro Anson for light transport duties. As with other RAF transports passenger seats are rearward facing for improved safety. [WIKIPEDIA] |
AW.660 Argosy XR138 (no date) The Argosy was used by the Royal Air Force for its capability to accommodate 69 troops, or 48 stretcher cases or 29,000 lb (13 tonnes) of freight. This meant it could carry military equipment such as the Saracen or Ferret armoured cars, or artillery such as the 105 mm howitzer or Wombat. The earliest deployments were in 1962 to No. 105 Squadron in the Middle East and No. 114 and No. 267 Squadrons at RAF Benson. The following year 215 Squadron received its Argosies when based at RAF Changi, Singapore. The squadron was disbanded on New Years Eve 1967 and the aircraft went to No. 70 Squadron at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. This was the last squadron to operate the aircraft in the transport role when it disposed of them in February 1975 in favour of Lockheed Hercules. The E.1 version of the Argosy was with No. 115 Squadron from 1968 to 1978, most of the time based at RAF Cottesmore. [MORE on WIKIPEDIA...] This was not the first aircraft named the Argosy... WIKIPEDIA |
 Canberra WH718, Flight Refuelling Ltd, Oct.1974 This was most certainly a rare visitor... Cannot think what the purpose of its visit was, since the Dutch Air Force had no inflight refuelling aircraft at that time. Perhaps a trip for navigational exercise or a exiting night in Amsterdam! |
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 U-21A 18014 US Army (30Mar76) |
 Convair T-29 15116 touching down, you can almost here the screech of the tyres... This was in 1970. My equipment at that time was an Exakta VX500. My telephoto lens was an Albinar (f4/300mm), producing rather soft images. |
 C-130E 40498 317TAW, 26Jul75 |
 During my enlistment here at Soesterberg AB, I often visited the Cross-Servicing where 'visitors' were parked. One would think the USAFE aircraft would go to the part of the air base where the Yanks were based, Camp New Amsterdam, but it seems this rather rare 'JO'-coded Phantom preferred the Dutch side of the air base. This is a recce- aircraft by the way, RF-4C of 363 TRW (15Mar76). |
 EKA-3B 147648/AF-653 VAQ-208 / CVWR-20 (US Navy). Visiting Soesterberg AB while involved in Excercise 'Ocean Safari", part of NATO's excercise 'Autumn Force' (16Dec75) |
North American T-39 Sabreliner 24477, in 1976. |
McDonnell F-4E Phantom II, 74-654/CR of USAFE 32TFS 'Wolfhounds'. A few more 'visitors' in B&W (1975)
Two-seaters always felt like a bonus!
The runway was too far off for my 200mm lens but a two-ship take off could make a nice photo. |
The photos on this webpage have been scanned, using a Epson V500 Photo (flatbed) scanner |
 I visited Soesterberg on 17Sep2014 and noticed the scenery had undergone a dramatic change: the hangars were gone and made way for a new building that will soon be opened: the National Military Museum. The former air base is being converted to a conservational environmental area, complete with heather and sheep, landscaped to preserve flora and fauna. The taxitrack has been removed too. A small area, where the fire brigade was housed, is being targeted for real estate, though building has not started yet. The Americans still have a military presence, with helicopters, it seems. I hope to explore the area in detail in due course. Meanwhile here are some screen dumps as it no longer is..  |
| Roel Wijngaards-de Meij (rec audiovisuele producties) made an excellent production, in 3 parts, detailing the history of
former Soesterberg AB and its rebirth as a park, which also houses the brand new National Military Museum. See also my report on MY VISIT TO THE NMM 21DEC2014 |
Gary Young wrote me in March 2022 In Dutch: |
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