Tag Archives: Twenthe

Throwback – Exercise Cerberus Guard

Gallery 21 March 2021 Niek van der Zande

In March 2013 the area around the former Twenthe Airbase was the scene of a large exercise called Cerberus Guard where airmobile forces had the objective to capture the airfield. This article is a throwback to the exercise.

Troops of 11 Airmobile Brigade captured the airfield

After capturing the airfield, an operating base was established from where the forward bases in Losser and Oldenzaal were supported. From these bases several actions took place, ammongst others in the FC Twente Stadium.

Helicopters from the Defense Helicopter Command approach the airfield in order to drop of troops.

But first during Exercise Cerberus Guard Twenthe airfield had to be captured. The night before, already some pathfinders were dropped close to the airfield. Then on Wednesday 20 March troops of 11 Airmobile Brigade were transported by Cougars and Chinooks of the Defense Helicopter Command to capture the airfield.

A 298 Squadron Chinooks drops troops of 11 Airmobile Brigade at Twenthe airfield.

Troops were dropped close to the runway and fought their way towards the control tower, where the “enemy” occupied several buildings. The goal was to clear this area and to establish control of the airfield.

Twenthe army — Airmobile troops occupy the area next to the runway ait Twenthe airfield after being dropped of.

A Chinook brings in additional troops and supplies

After access to the airfield was secured, the Pathfinders took control of the runway, so that they could guide Hercules aircraft to the airfield. These aircraft would fly daily replenishment missions from Eindhoven Airbase to Twenthe, in order to supply the troops with all things they required for their mission. This ranged from food to ammunition.

This also proved to be a valuable training for the Hercules crew, as being able to perform tactical operations in the Netherlands is quite rare.

Hercules Twenthe — A C-130H-30 climbs out of Runway 06 after a tactical landing

Aviation, Emergency Services, Transport, Uncategorized

Night photography

Gallery 15 October 2017 Niek van der Zande

Night photography is one of the more difficult things to do. The primary reason is the lack of light, something essential to photography. In order to get decent pictures you need a lot of practice, patience and a tripod will come in handy as well.

Modern DSLR cameras can easily go up to ISO One Zillion without loss of quality, but back in the old days, when you used slide film, a very long shutter time was needed and then still it was a big guess on what the result would be.

As said, modern cameras make it a lot easier, but you still have to know what you are doing. Next to that, quite some correction is required afterwards, as artificial lights have a nasty yellow glance.

This article shows various nightshots throughout the years.

Oldskool: Slides

A Venezuelan Hercules on the platform of Twenthe Airbase

An An-12 from Balkan Bulgarian Airways on the platform of Twenthe — A Balkan Bulgarian Airways Antonov 12 at Twenthe

Digital: Funfair in Hengelo

Emergency Services at Night

Firemen in action at a large fire in Hengelo

Aircraft at night

A Swiss Challenger 300 on the platform of Le Bourget

A brand new Embraer ERJ-145AEW made a stop at Le Bourget during the delivery flight to India

The Ecuadorian presidential aircraft was parked at Le Bourget during a visit to Paris

A Global Express from the German Air Force awaits a VIP at Le Bourget Airport

A United States Air Force C-40 VIP transport at Le Bourget

The Mirage gate guard of Payerne airbase in Switzerland

The Christoph Europa 2 helicopter at the Medisch Spectrum Twente in Enschede

The view on this Egyptian Hercules at Le Bourget was unfortunately obstructed by fences.

When you take pictures at night, some lights can be rather annoying, as was the case with this Malaysian Global Express

The picture of this Thai Air Force Boeing 737 was also rather tricky due to the large spotlight

A US based Gulfstream from the USAF on the tarmac of Le Bourget

A rare visitor to Le Bourget was this US Marine Corps C-9

Egyptian Hercules are frequent visitors to Le Bourget and therefore this nice picture could be taken

Aviation, Transport

AOPA Fly In at Twente Airport

Gallery 19 July 2017 Niek van der Zande

On the 8th of July Twente Airport played host to the annual Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Fly In.

One of the parking spaces at Twente Airport

During this event, more than 100 aircraft found their way to Twente Airport, where they could enjoy lectures, an aviation market and a nice barbecue.

The excellent weather during the day made this a very enjoyable event. Twente had not seen that many visiting aircraft, since the last Royal Netherlands Airforce (KLu) Open House in 2003. This meant that all possible help was needed and provided.

Below is an impression of some of the visiting aircraft

Aviation

Twente Airport re-opened

Gallery 2 May 2016 Niek van der Zande

The 1st of May 2016 was a historical date for Twente Airport with the arrival of the first commercial flight since 9 years.

With the departure of the Koninklijke Luchtmacht on 7 December 2007 military use of the airport ceased. As of 1 January 2008 the airport has been closed for civil aviation as well, pending governmental agreement on the future of the airport. On 16 June 2010 the province of Overijssel agreed on a spatial plan including an airport.

On 1 December 2010 the ownership of the airport grounds was transferred to the Twente region and the city of Enschede. Though it was attempted to find a party interested in operating the airport commercially, it was announced on 4 December 2012 that despite three parties showing interest in this proposal, none of them made a bid to operate it. In March of 2014 the government proposed that the airport could re-open for General Aviation users in 2015, and commercial traffic in 2016. Movements would be limited to 22.000 a year under the proposal primarily for noise abatement. However, in June of 2014 both the provincial government and the city of Enschede abandoned the plan to re-open the airport for commercial traffic. The future of the airport remained uncertain.[8] In August 2015 it was announced that Belgian aircraft recycling firm Aeronextlife intended to start using the airport to scrap aircraft. As part of the plan, Aeronextlife would become responsible for the costs of certain vital services required for airport operation, such as a fire fighting presence during aircraft operations.

Besides the arrival of Boeing 737 aircraft for scrapping, additional traffic allowed at the airport include cargo aircraft to transport airplane parts, business charter aircraft of a number of operators that requested permission to use the airfield, a limited amount of smaller general aviation aircraft and gliders. Approval was granted, and flights to Twente Airport resumed one the first of May 2016 with the landing of Cessna Citation Sovereign PH-HGT, owned by ASL – Air Service Liège, coming from Manchester, which departed for Aosta later that day. Plenty of enthusiasts were present on the newly erected spotters hill to witness this historical moment.

Aviation

A Blast from the Past

Gallery 13 July 2015 Niek van der Zande

Recently I had the opportunity to scan some of the slides that I took at Twenthe Airbase in the nineties and the beginning of the new Milennium. Looking at those pictures brings back nice memories, so why not share those pictures as well.

1996 Open House

The Open House usually brought many nice visitors to Twenthe and 1996 was no exception.

PC-7 L-04 of the EMVO taxiing in for the static display

2003 Open House

The 2003 Open House was a great success, but it was also the last Open House for Twenthe Airbase. The day after the show, Defence Minister Kamp announced that Twenthe would be closed because of budget cuts.

General Visitors

Over the course of the years, Twenthe was visited by many aircraft. Some were spectacular and unique, some a bit less.

This Sukhoi 22 was temporarily based at Hopsten and flew missions to HSA in Hengelo. This was done to test the HSA's new SMART-L radar. After one of those flights, a fly-by was made at Twenthe. — This Sukhoi 22 was temporarily based at Hopsten and flew missions to HSA in Hengelo. This was done to test the HSA’s new SMART-L radar. After one of those flights, a fly-by was made at Twenthe.

Tornado F.3s from 25 Sqn were regular visitors.

Normally they came over for a week to have some dogfights against the F-16s

When taxiing back to the flightline, nice pictures could be made.

When parked at the civilian platform, pictures were possible though.

This Bo-105CB in UN colours visited Twenthe for a career day.

A Venezuelan Hercules in 1998. This aircraft visited Twenthe to pick up goods from HSA in Hengelo.

In August 2001 two French Mirage 2000s visited Twenthe for some training.

Unfortunately one of the Mirages broke down.

Fortunately for us, a Nord 262 was sent in with technicians and spare parts.

This Bulgarian Tupolev 134 was used to fly some soldiers to The Netherlands

A Hungarian MiG-29 together with a 313 Sqn F-16

A Hercules from 334 Squadron sporting special anniversary colours

This Belgian Airbus 310 was used to ferry the ground crew back from Amendola.

A Danish Hercules was not so common at Twenthe

A Greek Hercules in absolutely appaling weather

Transalls became regular visitors when the neighbours from Hopsten deployed their Phantoms to Twenthe because of runway maintenance.

The German Transalls were used to ferry the German Phantoms and their equipment to Decimomannu

An Italian Hercules supporting a Starfighter detachment during Ample Train.

German Phantoms were regular visitors, but this WTD61 example was quite unique.

A German Tornado taxiing towards Runway 06.

A Luftwaffe Challenger in 1999 — A Luftwaffe Challenger that brought a German minister to Twenthe.

When the F-16's from Twenthe were deployed to Villafranca and later Amendola, freuquent visits were made my Belgian Hercules aircraft. Together with the Dutch transport fleet they supported the Belgian/Dutch F-16 deployments. — When the F-16’s from Twenthe were deployed to Villafranca and later Amendola, freuquent visits were made my Belgian Hercules aircraft. Together with the Dutch transport fleet they supported the Belgian/Dutch F-16 deployments.

Night Flying

One of the things F-16 pilots had to practice was flying by night. This video shows some take-offs in the beginning of the evening, during the final months of Twenthe’s active period.

F-16AM J-141 deploying the dragchute. This dragchute helps the F-16 to stop at a shorter stretch of runway.

Aviation

Jet Noise over Twenthe

Gallery 5 July 2015 Niek van der Zande

On the 5th of July 2015, old memories were relived when the Twente region woke up to the sound of Jet Noise.

The reason was, that on this day, the Good Cause Rally was held at the former Twenthe Airbase. During this event, children with a serious disease and their family, are invited to spend a day where they do not have to worry about their disease. Amongst others, they are taken for a drive in various fast cars, along the runway of the former airbase.

This year’s event was opened with some fly-pasts from 2 Hawker Hunters belonging to the Dutch Hawker Hunter Foundation based at Leeuwarden Airbase. To make it extra special, sponsors could bid on a flight in the 2-seat Hawker Hunter T.8C. The minimum bid had to be €7,000.- to cover the costs.

Apparently somebody made a good bid, as both aircraft showed up around 10.15 in the morning. In the next 15 minutes, they treated the audience to the sight and sound of this classic fighter. The Typical sound of the Rolls Royce Avon 207 turbine brought a smile to many faces.