RNLAF Open Days - Luchtmachtdagen 2019 - Blog Before Flight

Air Power Demo during RNLAF Open Days - Luchtmachtdagen 2019, Volkel AFB.

On Friday 14 and Saturday 15 May 2019, the Open Days of the Royal Dutch Air Force took place at Volkel Air Base. According to a spokesperson, there were around 95,000 visitors on Friday and around 145,000 visitors on Saturday.

These Open Days were all about Old and New

For the many visitors, the brand new LockheedMartin F-35 Lightning II was the highlight of the event. On Thursday evening the 2 Dutch Air Force F-35s arrived at the Volkel Air Base where they remained only for the weekend.

The F-35 flew in a formation with the old trusted F-16s of the Air Force at the end of the AirPower demo where Chinook and Puma helicopters, multiple F-16s, an F-35 and a C-130 Hercules participated.

The F-35 also participated in a flyby with a Ducth F-16 and a WW2 Dutch Spitfire.

One of the other newcomers to the Royal Netherlands Air Force was the upcoming Airbus A330 MRTT tank plane, still in the "primer" colors of the manufacturer. In the spring of 2020 the first aircraft of this series of eight aircraft will arrive at Eindhoven Air Base as a replacement for the old trusted McDonnellDouglas KDC-10.

As veterans there were 2 planes from the Swedish Air Force "Historical FLight", a SAAB Draken and a SAAB Viggen in the air show.

The old Air Force F-104G Starfighter from the Dutch Starfighter Foundation was shown in a separate hangar. This foundation is working on making a Dutch Starfighter operational again.

On the first day the "Patrouille de France" and the "Red Arrows" were the demo teams of the airshow, on Saturday the "Patrouille de Suisse" was the demo team at the end of the day.

The weather was good on Friday with a lot of sun, but on Saturday there was a lot of clouds during the day.

The next Air Force Days will be held in 2021 at Gilze-Rijen Air Base.