Born: 21.05.1946 Nationality: Dutch Flying experience: gliders only; more than 1100 starts or 215 hours since 1991 on the following types: two-seaters: Schleicher ASK-13, Schleicher ASK-21, Grob Twin Astir Single seaters: Schleicher K-8c, PZL-Bielsko SZD-51-1 Junior, Rolladen-Schneider LS-4b, Pilatus B4-PC-11, Schleicher ASK-23 Interest: aircraft built as prototype or in small numbers only Photos: more than 10,000 world-wide covering the period 1930 up to now Archive: technical info and 3-view drawings on most types; more than 850 books on aviation.

When Germany capitulated in May 1945 and German troops left the Netherlands, there was not much left of the national aircraft industry. The Fokker works at Amsterdam-Noord were practically destroyed and any equipment still left was looted by the retreating German forces. Also the Fokker workshop at Schiphol-Airport was practically non-existing by that time. Much [...]

The idea of a convertiplane is not new. A combination of a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft has been tried several times. However, such a convertiplane not only combines the advantages of both separate types, but also the disadvantages like higher costs, lower speed and range and less capacity! In spite of this a British [...]

At a time floatplanes and flying boats were barely capable of leaving the water, the Frenchman Jacques Schneider introduced in 1911 at a banquet following the 4th annual James Gordon Bennet race for landplanes the Schneider Cup for a similar race with seaplanes. One of the rules was, that the winning country had to organize [...]

ILA stands for ‘Internationale Luftfahrt Austellung’ (International Aviation Display) and is a one-week event held every two years. It was held from 27 May until 1 June 2008.

B-25 Mitchell in Red Bull markings
The last two days were used as Public Days with an airshow programme. At earlier years the ILA was at Hanover, but after [...]

Set of walk around images of the Locheed F-104G Starfighter preserved at Lelystad. The F-104G version sold well amongst NATO air forces, where these high-speed fighter-bomber variants continued in service with most operators until the late 1980s. 1,122 aircraft of the main version produced as multi-role fighter bombers. Manufactured by Lockheed, and under license by [...]

The Dutchman Anthony Fokker played an important role in equipping the German air force during the First World War. His early Eindecker (monoplane) E-types with the first successful synchronized, forward firing machine guns earned such a fearful reputation on the Western Front, that the reconnaissance and bomber aircraft the allied forces were using in the [...]