The Goodbye Flight of the KDC-10 at Eindhoven Air Base

[Redskin301]

Now that the days are over for the Royal Netherlands Air Force’s (RNLAF) last KDC-10, it is time to look back. This beautiful aircraft made its last flight in service of the air force and is sold to the American Omega Air Refueling Company. This video is showing one of the last landings of the KDC-10 on the soil of Eindhoven. It is a typical feeling good movie with some nice and relaxing music to remember the KDC-10 in Dutch service forever. As a photo and video maker I experienced several good memories with these tankers. I even had the opportunity to fly with this beautiful machine during a Frisian Flag mission. What is your personal experience with this aircraft? Feel free to share your memories to this tanker and the DC-10 in general in the comments below. Sit down and enjoy this characteristic sound of this Pegasus when it is touching down at Eindhoven. The KDC-10 is really the “Queen of the Air Force” in the Netherlands, and we will never forget this plane.

[Redskin301]

The last KDC-10 of the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNALF) made its last flight over the Netherlands on Thursday October 7th during a special goodbye flight. The flight departed from Eindhoven Air Base and the aircraft flew over Nieuw-Milligen, Leeuwarden Air Base, Texel Airport, De Kooy Maritime Air Base, Schiphol Amsterdam Airport, Rotterdam The Hague Airport, Woensdrecht Air Base, the Air Force Tower in Breda, Gilze-Rijen Air Base and Volkel Air Base. Due to low-hanging clouds, the aircraft was not visible everywhere despite the low flying height. The aircraft, the T-235 known as the 'Jan Scheffer' was built in 1976, and was until 1995 in service with Martinair as the PH-MBP. The aircraft was after this period modified to the KDC-10 standard and came in service of the RNLAF. Now the aircraft will be handed over to the new owner Omega Air at the end of this month. This American company provides air-to-air refueling services on a commercial basis.

With the retirement of the last KDC-10, after almost 49 years (of which 26 years at the RNLAF), the continuous deployment of the iconic DC-10 in the Netherlands comes to an end. Martinair received its first DC-10 in 1973 and has operated five of them over the years for passenger and cargo flights. Two DC-10s were handed over to the Royal Netherlands Air Force in 1995 for conversion to tanker/transport aircraft (T-235 & T-264). The RNLAF later also bought an ex-United Airlines DC-10 for transport tasks, but that aircraft was soon withdrawn from use due to budget cuts. The KDC-10 will be replaced at the RNLAF by the Airbus A330MRTT. There are nine aircraft purchased in a European context of which five has been delivered already. At the end of this memorable flight the KDC-10 got a water salute from the local fire brigade at Eindhoven Air Base. The Air Force is retiring it "Queen of the Air Force".