The change of roundel is one of the ‘fantastic’ ideas of our current Minister of Defence André Flahaut, who has more of these ridiculous ideas.

A few examples :
– he donated the 3 former Belgian Air Force HS748’s (2 airworthy and 1 for spares) to Benin, none have flown since…
– he donated hundreds of Iltis jeeps and Volvo army trucks to the Congo, the latest reports indicate that the jeeps/trucks were stolen from the Congolese army, and some are completely stripped for spares, pictures in the Belgian press show Iltis frames being used … for drying the laundry on !
– a few years ago who wanted to make a flight in an F16, but there were a few special conditions Kleine Brogel airbase had to comply to ! On arrival at the base he wanted to see female MPs, he needed a female guide on the base, the crewchief of the F16 had to be female and you already guessed it, the pilot had to be… female (we only had one female pilot at the time).
– a few months ago the belgian army bought some new armoured vehicles, some of which had to be armed with a gun, although the military staff advised on fitting a 105mm gun (which is the NATO standard), he insisted that a 90mm gun was fitted, small detail, there is only company (CMI) who builds this 90mm gun, which is located in Mr.Flahaut constituancy, and the supplier of the ammo (Mécar) is not far away either.
– one of his more intelligent comments in the past are that the belgian army is more combat ready than the US Army, hurray, during the last visit of Mr.Bush in Belgium our minister was not really welcome and was placed completely at the back of the crowd during the presidents speech, the rest of the goverment was somewhere in the front !
– the biggest farce is however the new parade uniform he had designed by one of his friends for a new to be formed ceremonial unit, this unit will welcome ‘friendly’ statesmen when they arrive at Brussels, I really hope they will not die laughing when they see these uniforms. And to come back to a comment made earlier, I agree this really looks like a uniform from some kind of central african military dictator.

These are only a few of his ideas, but I think it illustrates how the belgian military is ‘managed’ at this moment, a couple of weeks ago an army officer called him a ‘little Napoleon’ who considers the belgian army as his ‘praetorian guard’.

Best regards,

LaurentH

The Pembrokes were at Blackbushe for fitting of additional fuel tanks prior to their ferry flight the States.
They were never converted to cropsprayers though.

They were bought by a ‘shady’ outfit called ‘Air America’ (nothing to do with the CIA Air America), and used for smuggling drugs from South America to the US.

Several were lost in accidents during these activities.

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

Laurent

Hello,

Here are a few to start with.

Best regards,

Laurent

Hello,

I saw several figures being mentioned on this topic over the last couple of days, according to my records the count is as follows (as of this date) :

Delivered 160 (116 + 44)

Scrapped 33
Preserved 4
Instructional airframe 2
Written Off 36
Stored 16 (incl 2 destined for preservation)
Operational 69

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

Laurent

Perhaps this can also be of help to you.

Best regards,

Laurent

A few additions :

Max Holste MH1521M Broussard
F-GIBN c/n 261
(LFA Part 7)

SE5A
F-AZCN green c/s
F-AZCY brown c/s

Douglas C47A-20-DK Skytrain
42-93251 / as 313142/N

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

Laurent

According to my information is a Mk.V with Canadian registration 18534.

Best regards,

Laurent

Hello,

Regarding the service of the Canucks I can give you the following info.

53 aircraft were delivered to No 1 All-Weather Fighter Wing (11, 349 & 350 Sqns) between december 1957 and july 1958 as a replacement for the Hawker Hunter. They were only used until 1962-63 when they replacement with F104G Starfighters.

They were all sold for scrap, not 1 was retained for preservation, this was ‘rectified’ a few years later (late 60 – early 70s) when a former Royal Canadian Air Force example was obtained (for 1$) for the Royal Army Museum, this aircraft is still on show in Brussels.

Attached are a few ‘in service shots’ of the Canuck.

Best regards,

Laurent