Dutch Chinooks now officially sold to Billings

Scramble reported earlier (12 March 2023) on the proposed sale of six Koninklijke Luchtmacht (KLu, Royal Netherlands Air Force) CH-47D Chinook helicopters to US firefighting company Billings Flying Services based at Billings in the state of Montana (MN). The sale has now been formalized by the signing of the contract as announced by the KLu on 8 June 2023.

As the result of project ‘Chinook Vervanging & Modernisering’ (‘Chinook Replacement and Modernization) the CH-47F MYII CAAS was bought as a successor of the older ‘Delta’ version. The first of the 26 ordered CH-47Fs was introduced in April 2021.

Since then examples of the CH-47D have become redundant. As indicated in the above mentioned post four CH-47Ds have earlier been sold as firefighters to Coulson Aviation (USA) Inc. of Portland (OR). Others will be preserved as display aircraft or instructional airframe.   

The Chinooks destined for Billings Flying Services are: D-101 (c/n M4101), D-102 (M4102), D-106 (M4106), D-661 (M3661), D-662 (M3662) and D-667 (M3667).

The six will be converted into firefighter through the installation of an internal water tank and snorkel. Next to firefighting the newly acquired Chinooks will also be used in cargo transportation and disaster relief.

Billings currently uses the following (former US Army) CH-47Ds:

 Photo: Billings Flying Services