On
the 6th of January 2009 a C-130 Hercules from the Royal
Netherlands Air Force went to Camp Mirage to support the F-16’s in
Afghanistan. From this day it was the transport aircraft for the Dutch
military in Afghanistan. Because the mission in Afghanistan has now
ended for the Dutch military, the services of the Hercules are no longer
needed at Camp Mirage, so it came back home on the 3th of
April 2011.
Camp
Mirage is a base in the United Arabic Emirates where all the transport
capacity for Afghanistan is based. Before 2009 the Dutch military in
Afghanistan where transported by transport aircraft of other Air Forces,
in 2009 there were so many Dutch transport flights that the Netherlands
Air Force had to bring their own Hercules to Camp Mirage. In total the
Hercules transported 30.000 passengers and about 4.3 million pounds of
cargo in 350 missions to and from Afghanistan in 2 years. On the 1th
of April 2011 the mission was ended and the Hercules started the return
to The Netherlands. On the 3th of April he landed on 13:45 local time on
Eindhoven Airbase.
I
was invited, with some other people, to see this arrival from inside the
base. The Hercules was planned to arrive at 14:00 hours, we had to meet
up at the Base Information Centre on 13:15. On 13:30 we heard that the
Hercules was early, he should now land on 13:45. We went to the platform
where the family of the Hercules crew was waiting for the arrival. After
we parked the cars we went to the runway, the fire-brigade was already
there to give the Hercules a nice welcome. When the Hercules had landed
we had to go backward, so the fire-brigade could do his work, two of
their fire-engines where standing at both sides of the taxiway to give
the Hercules his welcome. At this welcome they spray an arc of water
over the Hercules.
The
family could go to the Hercules when it had stopped to meet their
beloved husbands, sons, dad’s, etc., they were finally home. At this
moment we could take a look in the Hercules how they pack the Hercules
on an operational flight. When the family was gone we had the moment to
take detailed photos of the Hercules and the Fokker 50’s which where
standing on the platform. This could be the last time we saw the
Fokker’s because they are for sale.
At
the end of this day we went back to the Base Information Centre to drink
some coffee. It was a good day and a nice experience. Many thanks to the
people how made this possible.
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