HISTORY

How it all began and what we want to accomplish in the (nearby) future

How it all began

On August 12 1999 a group called WG-HVV, short for Werkgroep Historische Vliegtuigen Volkel (in English: Working Group Historical Aircraft Volkel) was set up under the supervision of Lt. Col. ir E.C.G.J. van Duren.

The assignment was to “line up” historical aircraft along the main entrance of Volkel Air Base, at so called “Poortlaan”.

The following aircraft were scheduled to be in the “line up”:

  • Harvard (Volkel Air Base logo)
  • R(recce) T-33A Shooting star (T-Bird) (306 logo)
  • F-84E Thunderjet (311 logo)
  • F-84F Thunderstreak (312 logo)
  • F-84F Thunderflash (306 logo)
  • F-104G Starfighter (312 logo)
  • F-16 Fighting Falcon (311 logo)

The line up was planned to be realised in March 2001, taken into account that possibly not all the mentioned aircraft would present.
There is no knowledge regarding the progress of the assignment.

In 2004, with the vital support of Robin Mossichhoff, two plans came together. Some people of the 312 Squadron wanted to restore a complete F-104G and the local air base museum (Historical Room Typhoon) wanted to restore a Starfighter cockpit section for display. They established the “Starfighter rescue team”, which later would be renamed as the Historische Vliegtuigen Volkel (Historical Aircraft Volkel), in short HVV.

Looking forward

With a few exceptions, all the volunteers are active or post-active air force personnel. At the moment we are a group of people who are involved with the technical issues as stated below.

Finished projects

R
Starfighter D-8279

Doing a service check of the Starfighter D-8279 and putting it on its new pedestal.

R
F-16 J-240

Preparing the F-16 J-240 for display on its pedestal.

R
Starfighter D-8256

Preparing the Starfighter D-8256 for a cockpit display at Historical Room Typhoon.

R
Thunderstreak P-248

Preparing the Thunderstreak P-248 for display on its pedestal.

Ongoing projects

I
Airworthy Starfighter D-8114

Working towards an airworthiness status of the Starfighter D-8114.

I
Navigation systems for display

Bring navigation systems from the Starfighter and F-16 into the Historical Room Typhoon for display.

I
Navigation system Starfighter D-8114

Have a working navigation system in the Starfighter D-8114.

I
Orpheus reconnaissance pod

Restoration of a Orpheus reconnaissance pod for dynamic display.

I
Maintenance of the gate guards

Doing service checks and allround maintenance of the Volkel Air Base gate guards.

Future projects

A
Installing full cockpit light system

Installing a full cockpit light system in the F-16 simulator cockpit. This simulator is on display in the Historical Room Typhoon.

A
F-16 Fighting Falcon

After the F-16 is phased out of the Royal Netherlands Air Force, we want to acquire an F-16 for display. This will probably be after the F-35 is operational in the Royal Netherlands Air Force.