Decoration for Jack van Egmond

For many people in the Netherlands, Mr. J.J. (Jack) van Egmond (furthest to the left on the first photo) is the godfather of historic aviation. For the vast amount of achievements in the field of aircraft restoration in the past decades, van Egmond has received a Dutch royal decoration. On 11 April 2021 he has become Knight of the Order of Oranje-Nassau.

In the past forty years van Egmond initiated the restoration or rebuild of no less than 37 aircraft, many of which are either rare or even unique. At Hoogeveen airport he restored smaller planes like Holland’s only Klemm 35, a Fairchild PT-26 Cornell and a Ryan ST-3KR to name but a few.

But van Egmond has truly gained international fame with the restoration of Vickers Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX MK732. As PH-OUQ, this warbird has been one of the eye-catchers of the Koninklijke Luchtmacht Historische Vlucht (Royal Netherlands Air Force Historic Flight) for many years.

As founder of and former teacher at the Deltion Technical College in Zwolle, van Egmond has always tried to encourage students in aviation technics to participate in his restoration activities. It was, in his opinion, the best way to pass on his knowledge and share his abilities with the next generation.

The most recent project is the reconstruction by van Egmond’s company ATN of a Fokker D.XXI fighter. As no complete examples of this type have survived in the country, van Egmond had to rely on original Fokker factory drawings to completely rebuild one. The first flight of this exciting project is expected later this year. Scramble reported on this project in 2019: https://www.facebook.com/Scramblemagazine/posts/2825816987444817

Obviously these are more than enough reasons to justify the decoration. Therefore Scramble likes to congratulate mr. van Egmond with his fresh knighthood!

Photos: Frank Uijlenbroek (Tubantia) and Gert Jan Mentink