Hi all,
Today a short trip to Belgium was made, with the last TLP at Florennes as main goal. The weather forecast was very bad, but since we will be leaving for Japan this weekend it was "now or never" for this last opportunity to see the TLP aircrat active in Belgium.
Of course we started the trip with a quick look at Brussel.
Brussel-Melsbroek
(251) G.1159C (1 OW, 102 sq)
(102001)/021 Tp.102A (F17M)
830500 C-20A (VR-1)
The American Gulf just arrived when we were there, and could be photographed nicely (even with some sunlight). Some police was present at Abelag, but no problem graphing the Yankee. How different was this in the not too distant past!
Then we continued our trip, and when we got close to Namur we found out the weather forecast was right. It got very dark and started raining. Since we were still rather early we made a quick detour to catch a former Belgian AF Super Cub.
Sovet (50º 17’ 18” N, 5º 02’ 03” E)
OO-GDE L-18C (ex L32)
This is at a small private strip just south of the little village. We rang the bell at the (hughe) house at the estate, and explained in our seconday school French what we were looking for. The owner was very friendly but also very surprised we were willing to walk to the aircraft through the wet grass in the pouring rain.We convinced him it would be worth it for us, and he had no objection. The Cub looks immaculate by the way, in an all blue c/s. Please remember this is a PRIVATE strip and a private estate, and don't just start running towards the Cub. As said the owner was very friendly, let's keep him that way!
Then on to Florennes, where we arrived at the usual spot and found not a single spotter was present. We tried to id the aircraft on the ramp from the road, since we didn't feel like walking into the field in the pouring rain. A lot could be seen, but we decided to drive to the spot near the main gate from where you can see the beginning of the TLP ramp. When we were there suddenly it got very busy on the platform, and engines were sterted up, so we decided to drive to the western end and try to get the departures. This worked out very well, and all departing aircraft were read off. Here three other spotters were present as well by the way. Seen were:
Florennes
Falcon 20 G-FRAS
F-16C 4055, 4056
L-159A 6051, 6055, 6061, 6064
Hawk XX289/CO, XX329/CJ
EF.2000 C.16-27/11-07, C.16-28/11-08
F-16D (90-)0843/SP, 91-0464/SP
F-16C 112, 134
Tornado ECR (MM7052)/50-02, (MM7053)/50-07
S. Etendard 1 (17 F), 8 (11 F, grey c/s)
F-16AM J-199 (311 sq), J-201 (322 sq), J-637 (312 sq), J-644 (322 sq)
F-16AM FA86, FA103, FA119, FAxx (special tiger tail)
Mirage 2000N 616/133-XH, 683/133-IV -edit- this was read off by us as 643, but should be 683 apparently; I blame the rain....
Mirage 2000D 333/4-AB, 348/4-AL
By the time those had all left three Vipers were left on the platform: Polish F-16D 4083, USAF (92-3)918/SP and an unknown SP F-16C with red tailband. Apparently the mission got cancelled after all, since the first aircraft already started returning before we had made it to the eastern end again. Lucky for us they decided this AFTER take off!
Still satisfied despite the horrible weather we did some W&R hunting on the way back, starting with a Streak.
Carriere de Rochefontaine, Franchimont (50º 11’ 04” N, 4º 38’ 28” E)
(FU82)/082 F-84F std, tail of FU28
This is next to a diving lake in a big quarry. Sunk in the lake should be a Hunter as well, but that's not visible without a serious dive unfortunately. To get here from Florennes drive to the famous roundabout with the preserved Streak, turn left here and at the next T-crossing turn left again (the N40). Soon you'll see a sign left for Franchimont, ignore this and continue. After about a mile or so again you'll see a sign left for Franchimont, again ignore this and continue. Some 400 m after this sign there's a small road to the left with a sign Carriere de Rochefontaine. Follow this road and the signs, and after about 900 m you'll reach the quarry. Drive in, head right after the main building, and you'll see the clubhouse and the stored (or better: dumped) F-84 to the left of it. We waved friendly to a guy who was working in the quarry, and he just waved back, so no problem taking some pictures.
Then we went on to the airfield of Charlerois, where a Vampire had surfaced recently.
Charlerois-Gosselies (roughly 50º 27’ 42” N, 4º 26’ 56” E)
(OO-KGS) Vampire T.55 std (ex U-1237)
It took us a long time to find this, buty finally we succeeded. The jet is parked next to the B.727 that is used as an instructional aircraft, it is on the north side of the runway, west of the new terminal. We had to follow our nose trying to drive along the fence a bit, and finally we got stuck because of major construction works. But from here we could just see the Boeing, and when we walked a bit further the Vampire was seen as well. We could see the Swiss markings on the tail, but the booms were just hidden behind some bushes so we couldn't read it off. We decided to drive around to find the entrance of the school, but when we finally got here we didn't get permission to photograph or even look at the aircraft "since this was paid for with public money".....
Anyway, at least we saw it, but if someone is luckier than us and can confirm the serial I would be very grateful!
Finally we made another stop at Brussel on the way back.
Brussel-Melsbroek
5105 CL.601 241 dlt
OM-BYO Tu-154 Slovak Gvt
The three aircraft logged this morning had all gone, and had been replaced by those two. A nice ending of a rainy but still succesfull day out. A nice Asian dinner at Hazeldonk topped it off, and without traffic jams worth mentioning we returned home to find the sun was shining there unlike in Belgium....
That's all folks!
Frank Mink & Patrick Dirksen
Tristar Aviation
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