Belgian Air Force

Force Aérienne belge Composante Air / Luchtcomponent
Lineup	1910
Country	Belgium
Type	Armed forces (air component)
insignia
Aircraft cockade
National emblem ( vertical stabilizer )

The Belgian air component , English as a Belgian Air Component referred, the air forces of the Kingdom of Belgium as part of the Belgian Armed Forces . In the Flemish part of the country they are known as Luchtcomponent and as Composante Air in French in Wallonia. It has a staff of around 8,600 soldiers.

history

The first Belgian airship Belgique

Also, F-84F Thunderjet were flown during the Cold War from the Air Power

Military aviation in Belgium began at the beginning of the 20th century with a flying company. In the spring of 1915 it was renamed Aviation Militaire Belge , which existed under this name until the German occupation of Belgium in 1940.

At this time, the British Royal Air Force began to put squadrons with personnel from the states occupied by Germany into service. Two seasons from this period, the 349th and 350th seasons, are still active today. Both were still in Germany for some time until the end of 1946, first in Wunstorf and later in Faßberg .

The RAF squadrons formed the newly established Belgian Air Force in 1946 , which was later fully integrated into NATO . In the early years, the British piston engine fighters and Douglas vans were used almost exclusively.

During the Cold War , jets of the types Hawker Hunter , Lockheed F-104 Starfighter and Dassault Mirage 5 and the Fairchild C-119 as a transporter were flown . Belgian squadrons were also temporarily stationed in Germany, so in 1953 the two F-84 squadrons from Florennes and Kleine Brogel, when their bases were expanded, in RAF Brüggen, and the 42nd squadron, also equipped with F-84, from 1954 to 1956 in RAF Wahn .

As early as 1980, the now modernized General Dynamics F-16 A / B, which were built under license, were put into service. Belgium was among the first European users of this pattern, along with the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. The number of active machines, a total of 160 were procured in two tranches (116 and 44), but was gradually reduced after the end of the Cold War; In 2015 they want to fly 60 more machines.

After 1990, the air power was reduced by more than half and in 2002 the greatly reduced air power was combined as the Belgian air component with the other previous armed forces to form a single organization. In 2004, the Army Aviation Units, which had been subordinate to the land component until then, were also taken over.

During the first combat mission of NATO, Operation Allied Force in Kosovo in 1999, Belgian machines were also used. In the 2000s, Belgian machines also took part in missions in Afghanistan .

Current equipment

Status: 09/2016

Aircraft	photo	origin	use	version	active	Ordered	Remarks
Warplanes
SABCA F-16 Fighting Falcon		Belgium / United States	Multipurpose fighter	F-16AM	49		only some of the 136 machines originally delivered are currently in use; a successor is being sought
Transport aircraft
Airbus A321		Portugal / European Union	VIP transporter		1		leased from Hi Fly , civil registration
Dassault Falcon 20th		France	VIP transporter	Falcon 20E	2		will be retired in 2018
Airbus A400M Atlas		European Union	multifunctional transport aircraft			7th	from 2018
Lockheed C-130 Hercules		United States	tactical transport aircraft	C-130H	11		will be retired by 2020
Embraer ERJ 145		Brazil	Transport plane	ERJ 145 ERJ 135	2 2
Training aircraft
SABCA F-16 Fighting Falcon		Belgium / United States	Combat trainer	F-16BM	10		only some of the 24 machines originally delivered are currently in use.
Alpha Jet		Germany / France	Advanced trainer	Alpha Jet 1B	29
SIAI Marchetti SF.260		Italy	Advanced trainer	SF.260M SF.260D	32
helicopter
Aérospatiale SA-319 Alouette III		France	Liaison helicopter	SA.316B	3
AgustaWestland AW109		Italy	Light multipurpose helicopter	A109A A109BA	23
Westland Sea King		United Kingdom	SAR helicopter	Mk.48A	2		2019 out of service
NH90		European Union	Transport helicopters , SAR and board helicopters	TTH NFH	4 4		plus 2 TTH as an option

An extensive list of the former aircraft can be found on the corresponding page in the English language Wikipedia.

Air bases

Beauvechain Florennes Kleine-Brogel Melsbroek Koksijde

Current bases ( "Base aérienne de ..." ) of the lighting component

Belgium has four major military airfields :

• Base aérienne de Beauvechain , province of Walloon Brabant , main base for helicopters and trainers, 1st wing with three helicopter squadrons (A109, NH90-TTH) and training center with two basic trainer squadrons (SF.260)
• Base aérienne de Florennes , Province of Namur , main base for combat aircraft, 2nd Wing with 1st and 350th Squadrons (F-16)
• Base aérienne de Kleine-Brogel , Province of Limburg , main base for combat aircraft, 10th Tactical Wing with the 31st and 349th Squadron and the Operational Conversion Unit (F-16)
• Base aérienne de Melsbroek (military part of Brussels-Zaventem airport), Province of Flemish Brabant , main base for transport aircraft, 15th Wing Luchttransport with the 20th (C-130) and the 21st squadron (all other types)

A smaller place houses helicopters:

• Base aérienne de Koksijde , West Flanders Province , Season 40 (NH90-NFH), Heliflight (Alouette III)

The 11th Squadron Alpha Jet Trainers, administratively part of the 1st Wing , are permanently stationed at the Cazaux military airfield in southwestern France and belong to the Franco-Belgian Advanced Jet Pilot Training School (AJeTS).

Incidents

• On July 19, 1960, a Fairchild C-119G of the Belgian Air Force ( aircraft registration CP-36 / OT-CBP ) had an accident in mountainous terrain near Rushengo ( Republic of the Congo ). Of the 43 occupants, 39 were killed, all 3 crew members and 36 passengers.

• On December 12, 1961, two Fairchild C-119Gs of the Belgian Air Force (registration numbers CP-25 / OT-CBE and CP-23 / OT-CBC) collided during the flight near Montignies-lez-Lens (Belgium). All 13 crew members of both machines (8 + 5) were killed.

• On October 22, 1965, a Fairchild C-119 G of the Belgian Air Force (CP-19 / OT-CAS) flew into a wooded mountain in Reinhardswald , 2.7 kilometers west-northwest of Reinhardshagen-Veckerhagen . All eight inmates were killed. The machine was supposed to deliver supplies for a maneuver in the North Hessian-East Westphalian area.

• On July 15, 1996, a Lockheed C-130H Hercules of the Belgian Air Force (CH-06) had an accident while landing at Eindhoven Airport ( Netherlands ). The machine had been chartered by the Dutch Air Force . After several bird strikes , the left engines 1 and 2 lost power, but the crew switched off engine 3. The plane crashed next to the runway. However, the fire brigade at Eindhoven Airport only noticed after 23 minutes that there were passengers in the cabin. Of the 41 occupants, 34 were killed, including all 4 crew members and 30 passengers; only 7 passengers survived.

• On 5 May 2006, a Lockheed C-130H Hercules burned the Belgian Air Force (CH-02) on the Brussels Airport ( Belgium completely). A fire broke out in the maintenance hangar of the Belgian airline Sabena , which could only be brought under control 3 hours later after the roof collapsed. Three Airbus A320s from various airlines also burned out. People were not harmed.

See also

• Zutendaal military airfield

Web links

• Homepage of the Belgian Air Component (English)
• History of the Belgian Air Force on warthunder.com from September 19, 2014
• Belgian Air Force has existed for 100 years , on grenzecho.net on April 16, 2013
• The history of the Belgian Air Force on haltraum.com from September 25, 2016

Individual evidence

1. ^ Accident report C-119G CP-36 / OT-CBP , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 11, 2020.
2. ^ Accident report C-119G CP-25 / OT-CBE , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 11, 2020.
3. ^ Accident report C-119G CP-23 / OT-CBC , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 11, 2020.
4. ↑ 53 years after the accident: Belgian army creates memorial in Reinhardswald. Retrieved February 11, 2020 . 
5. ^ Accident report C-119 CP-19 / OT-CAS , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 11, 2020.
6. ^ Accident report C-130H Hercules CH-06 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 10, 2020.
7. ↑ Incident report C-130H Hercules CH-02 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 10, 2020.