Hi all,
Last week HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands passed away at 93 years of age. He was a very keen pilot after having gained his wings in the RAF during the early war years, and kept on flying until he was 82. He was also instrumental in having a Dutch Spitfire Squadron formed (322) during the war and also founded a Spitfire Fund. This Spitfire fund was changed after the war but is still active and donates funds to charities, organisations etc.
Today he was laid to rest in Delft, during the ceremony three F16’s and the Dutch Spitfire MK732 flew a missing man formation where the Spit peeled of over the church where things were happening. A short feature was also broadcasted at the six o’clock news here in Holland about the organisation operating the Spitfire from Gilze Rijen airfield where the Dutch Historical Flight is based.
After so many years, the Spitfire relation was still strong. It was a moving sight.
Cheers
Cees
By: 334_Pegasus - 12th December 2004 at 17:43
By: DazDaMan - 11th December 2004 at 20:45
By: CrazyCavia - 11th December 2004 at 20:35
Remains an impressive sight.
Small video of the flupast:
http://cgi.omroep.nl/cgi-bin/streams?/nos/nieuws/2004/december/video/111204/flypast.wmv
Larger video showing the preparation and air-to-air shots from 1 of the F-16’s, have to sit throught a weather forecast first but it’s worth it. (Click on video at the bottom of the paragraph)
http://www.2vandaag.nl/index.php?module=PX_Story&func=view&cid=2&sid=28966#
By: 334_Pegasus - 11th December 2004 at 18:48
Funny thing was that MK732 didn’t have its clipped wings anymore, when were they extended again? There was a video filmed from inside the F-16B on the news just now, quite nice to see and I’ll post a URL if I find it online.
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December 11, 2004 at 6:22 pm