Oostwold (Netherlands)

‘Time Flies’ Oostwold 2017

4 - 5 June 2017

Credits: Gert-Jan and Roeland Mentink

Time flies: Time flies was the motto of this airshow and it is certainly true. One can hardly imagine that already two years have gone by since the last edition of this show. It is a unique event, as it is the only airshow in the Netherlands dedicated to historic aviation; more specific an airshow with an emphasis on warbirds. Oostwold 2017 is the ninth edition of this event, organised on 4 and 5 June, the Pentecost weekend. During this weekend more than 25 thousand people came to visit the show, a true record! And in case you are still puzzling: Oostwold is situated in the far north-eastern part of the Netherlands, some 2,5 hours’ drive from the capital.

Oostwold, home of “Damn Yankee”: That the airshow is organised on such a remote airfield has its reason. Oostwold is a private airfield owned by Tom Karst van de Meulen, and it is used by the aircraft of his company, Vliegbedrijf Tom van der Meulen B.V. He started his activities in the field of crop spraying as ‘Tom’s Vliegbedrijf’. Nowadays the company is active in pleasure/photo flights, maintenance, and flight instruction. In a number of years Oostwold has developed from a grass strip with windsock to a regional airport with hangars and concrete platform. The owner, van der Meulen, has a passion for warbirds. He gained fame in the Netherlands, as he was the first to bring an airworthy North American Mustang, , P-51D N11T, to the country. His aircraft nowadays flies as PH-PSI, in the colours of 44-74425 “Damn Yankee” of the 359th Fighter Squadron, 356th Fighter Group, based at Martlesham Heath. With call sign ‘OC-G’ it represents the Mustang flown by Lt.Col. Donald A Baccus. The fighter was initially based at Lelystad, but later moved to Oostwold. Van der Meulen wanted to share his passion for warbirds with others, and for this reason decided to organise the first Oostwold airshow. It has been a bi-annual event ever since.

British contribution: The organisation obviously has good contacts within the UK. The Fighter Collection, based at Duxford, sent three of its Curtiss Hawks, representing the development of this design. Wright R-1820 Cyclone radial engine powered Hawk 75 G-CCVH, the only survivor of the Battle for France, was the oldest of the three. P-40C 41-13357 (G-CIIO) showed the development of the Hawk, in which the radial was replaced by an in-line V-1710 Allison engine. Compared to the P-40C, the P-40F houses an even more powerful in-line engine, the Packard V-1650 Merlin. TFC’s 41-19841/X-17 (G-CGZP) ‘Lee’s Hope’ showed the attractive lines and performance of the P-40F at Oostwold. These American built fighters were accompanied by a real British icon: Spitfire LF Mk.Vb EP120 (G-LFVB) from the same stable. The Old Fighter Machine Company, also from Duxford, was represented by another Spitfire, an LF Mk.IXb MH434 (G-ASJV). According to one of the pilots, this Spitfire is by many considered to be the smoothest flying example of its kind in the world.

Scandinavian fighters: Also coming from the UK, but with a Norwegian connection were Spitfire HF Mk.IXe G-BRSF and ‘The Shark’, P-51D Mustang G-SHWN. Both fighters are operated by the Norwegian Spitfire Foundation, which tries to raise money to acquire an airworthy Spitfire of their own. The Spitfire and the Mustang are based at the Boultbee Flight Academy on Goodwood Aerodrome in West Sussex. They were flown by NSF chairman Lars Ness, a B-737 captain in daily life and Eskil Amdal who is a Royal Norwegian Air Force testpilot. The Spitfire, until recently flown in its original livery as RR232, has been repainted with Norwegian flag striping over the wings and on the rudder. The aircraft in its new coat of arms meant a first for Oostwold. It now carries the colours of ‘PV181’ and the personal code ‘RAB’ of Rolf Arne Berg. He was a Norwegian pilot, flying as wing commander in No. 332 sq RAF. Berg lost his life on 3 February 1945, when he was shot down during an attack on Eelde airport, while flying Spitfire PV181. The shark-mouthed Mustang G-SHWN is actually ex-RCAF 9279, but flies as RAF KH774 with code ‘GA-S’.

Norseman: A real treat was the presence and demo flying of Noorduyn UC-64A 44-70515 (LN-TSN). This Norseman, currently the only example of its type flying in Europe, is owned by the Norwegian Spitfire Foundation. It is painted in the colours of the Royal Norwegian Air Force with code R-AF. The pilot of LN-TSN gave a vivid display during which the surprising agility of the aircraft was clearly demonstrated. The designer of the De Havilland Canada Beaver (almost a post-war look-alike of the UC-64) must have carefully watched the Norsemen when he saw it fly. The photographers amongst the public were treated by several passes with one wing lowered to enable top-down pictures. Knowing that there are currently two Norsemen in the Netherlands which are under restoration to fly (Aviodrome in Lelystad and Hembrug) made it even more interesting.

Vietnam duo: The warbirds present at the airshow were not only WW II types. Dating from the Vietnam era were Cessna O-2 N590D and OV-10D Bronco G-ONAA. During the Vietnam war both types were used in FAC (Forward Air Control) and ground support duties. But while the former was a military development of the civilian Ce-337 Super Skymaster, the North American Bronco was designed for these tasks from day 1. N590D is in private hands and operated on behalf of the Cold War Museum at Teuge airport. The push-pull is in full USAF Indo-China livery, carrying its original serial 67-21300. It even has bogus rocket launchers attached to the wings. The Bronco was not only used in Vietnam. The example present at Oostwold, G-ONAA, was used in Germany as 99+18, flying as a target tug and it still carries these colours. It is owned by a group of Belgian enthusiasts, the Bronco team. To commemorate the victims of the Great War, it is currently adorned with poppies and a large text: “Lest we forget” on the upper surface of the wing.

Formation flying and aerobatics: Of course the average public airshow cannot do without this form of aerial . This was brought by the Fokker Four S-11s, but also by the Belgian Air Force formation team, the Swallows. Their performance, flying four bright red Marchetti SF-260s was highly appreciated by the public. Another aerobatics type of which several examples are registered in the Netherlands is the Yakovlev Yak-52. Three of these, members of the Thunderyaks, also gave a nice display, initially even in formation with the aforementioned Bronco. Two Dutch aerobatics pilots both demonstrated the power of their Sukhoi aerobatic machines. Stephan van Dijck, in daily life KLM Boeing 747 captain and one of the founders of Thunderyaks flew a brilliant demo in his yellow Su-29 PH-KAH. Frank van Houten flew another Sukhoi, Su-26MX PH-SMX. In contrast to these Russian powerhouses, Air Combat Europe demo team, coming from Lelystad, demonstrated that pure power is not essential for aerobatics. They fly the highly agile Blackshape BS-100 ‘Prime’, a so-called ‘Micro Light Aircraft’. With only 100 h.p. they can fly as fast as 300 km/h. More aerobatics were brought by the Global Stars Champion Aerobatic Team UK, led by Mark Jefferies, flying two CAP232s and one Extra EA300L.

What more was there to be seen? Another first for Oostwold was a real Vultee BT-13B Valiant, N71502, coming from Germany. This basic trainer type is nick-named ‘Vibrator’ because of the heavy vibrations in the cockpit. It was imported from the USA last year by Philipp Schröder. The aircraft is painted as 79801/500. More common is the Harvard/Texan, of which even four examples were present. Next to the Oostwold based PH-KLU, two aircraft arrived from neighbour Germany. Of course several biplanes were also present, of which both Breitling Stearmans gave the most spectacular demonstration. Two others could be admired only on the ground, N9912H ‘Old Crow’ and beautiful Oostwold based PH-TOX. Both days saw the arrival of a Tiger Moth, G-AJHS on 4 June, while its colleague N8233 arrived on 5 June. On that same day the largest biplane of them all came in: Antonov An-2 D-FONL, operated by Classic Wings. It made a return pleasure flight from/to Teuge. And for those with a wider interest than only planes, re-enactors had built a military camp and showed their vehicles and demonstrated their guns. Fortunately they only used blanks! Other visitors were thrilled by the presence of a collection of historic tractors!

Acknowledgement: With a perfect organisation, interesting variety of both static and flying aircraft, and its beautiful weather, the Oostwold 2017 airshow was a great success. On top of that, the representatives of the media received every cooperation, ranging from a guided tour over the static park, to a purpose-built, two story high, scaffold to facilitate photography. The authors are indeed very grateful to the organisation, in particular to mr. Sjoerd Looijenga. Another big thank you goes to Raymond van Dijkhuizen for sending his nice photos and log, which was very useful when writing this article.

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