298 Squadron Chinooks

 

Royal Netherlands    Air Force (RNLAF)

 

All Dutch Chinooks beginning with D-66, as in D-661 through D-667, were ex-Canadian C model Chinooks converted to D-models. The flight hours were reset to zero upon the conversion. The Dutch Hooks beginning with D-10, as in D-101 through D-106, were brand new helicopters. All thirteen helicopters were equipped with glass cockpits, the Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) system, and had weather radar incorporated into the nose.

 

 

D-102

 

"Big Spender"

 

In the August 2001 photographs below, a RNLAF Chinook, tail number D-102 [Boeing build number M4102] - home based at Soesterberg Air Base (AB), is pictured on Gilze-Rijen (AB). The airbase was home for the RNLAF Messcherschmit Bölkow Blohm (MBB) BO-105CB and the Boeing AH-64D "Apache". On this day, people that lived in the local neighborhood came to visit and see the various types of aircraft.

On the first picture you'll see a dark blue Opel Astra, belonging to 298th Squadron, in the background. On the third picture that the same car is in the back of the Chinook. Units will often deploy with their own surface transportation.

One can also note the large "UN" painted on the side of D-102. This helicopter had just returned from a United Nations mission in Africa.

The D-102 is humorously named "Big Spender", because the Chinook was delivered late on the contract - so Boeing sent a big bag of money with it.

 

 

 

Of interest are the multiple chaff/flare dispensers on the aircraft, seen in the two photographs below, mounted near the ramp area:

 

 

 

D-104

 

"Snack Bowl"

 

Below are two photographs of another RNLAF CH-47D Chinook. They were taken during an airshow held in July 2001 at Leeuwarden AB in the north of The Netherlands. This Chinook, tail number D-104 [Boeing build number M4104] was a brand new helicopter. D-104 arrived at Soesterberg AB on 1 October 1998 and was assigned to the 298th squadron. At the time, the Dutch Chinooks were all equipped with a "glass" cockpit, sporting the latest in electronic wizardry, and were some of the most modern Chinooks operating in the world.

D-104 was deployed to Macedonia (Albania) in 1999. During this deployment, the left "Bubble" window broke. The only replacement bubble window available at the time was a repaired one in use by Technical Supply personnel as a bowl for snacks. This snackbowl was used on D-104 until a new one was obtained. For this, D-104 was named "Snack Bowl".

 

 

 

 

D-106

 

RNAF Chinook helicopter D-106 was nicknamed "Porcupine", and the nose art shown to the left was painted near the main cabin door.

 

 

 

 

 

D-661

 

"Red October"

 

Filmed at Volkel AB, during the open house of the Royal Netherlands Air Force in July 2000, D model D-661 is shown below. D-661, Boeing build number M3661, was a former Canadian C model Chinook, tail number CH147003, originally manufactured in April 1974. D-661 arrived in The Netherlands on 3 August 1996. D-661 was given the name "Red October". The reason for this name was that D-661 was the only RNLAF Chinook that has ever made a water landing in the United States of America (USA). The water landing was not really a success - water having reached the flight control computers causing flight control difficulties, so they named this Chinook after Tom Clancy's book - "The Hunt for Red October". D-661 has flown in Africa to support the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), as did D-102, during the winter of 2001 and, as of March 2002, was operating in the former Yugoslavia conducting SFOR (Stabilization Force) missions.

 

 

 

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