In honor of the farewell of the General Dynamics F16 Fighting Fulcrum of the Royal Dutch Air Force, a spotter day was organized by the spotter association of Volkel on Tuesday, September 24-2024.
A total of 200 spotters got to witness one of the last days of the F16 in operational service at Volkel air base. Two F16s were placed on cross service of which one was started up and left for an operational mission.
In addition, two F16s were set up along with an F35 Lightning and an F104 Starfighter to be photographed at close range.
Of the two F16s, one was painted in a special painting scheme, celebrating the farewell of the F16. This was the J-197 also called the Farewell Viper.
The design of this livery was done by Peter van Stigt who made in total 7 special liveries. In addition to this farewell livery, there was a second special tail, created in honor of “Celebrating 50 Years of the F-16.”
Besides the F16 and F35, the successor of the F16, the predecessor of the F16 was also on the platform. The D8114 an F104 Starfighter could be photographed along with the other aircraft.
I first came into contact with the F16 after completing my training at Fokker. My first assignment was on the F16 production line. Fokker was one of the main partners in the F-16 Fighting Falcon consortium, which was responsible for the production of these fighters for the Belgian, Danish, Dutch and Norwegian Air Forces.
During my military service I was assigned to 315 squadron where I was assistant crew chief on the F16. This was a great time where I came into contact with the F16 on active duty.
After my service I experienced many more moments with the F16 but as an aircraft spotter.
Interviews were also conducted during the Farewell party. I was allowed to contribute to one of the reports. Curious about the result, here is the link to the article and here the link to the video.
