On 16th April the 298 Squadron "Grizzlies" of the Defence Helicopter Command of the Royal Netherlands Airforce at Gilze-Rijen Air Base celebrated its 75th anniversary.
The 298 Squadron originates back to the end of World War II, when on 16 April 1945 the Nr. 6 Dutch Auster Squadron was founded at Gilze-Rijen in the Netherlands. Flying a number of fixed wing aircraft and helicopters over the years, the squadron received their first CH-47D Chinook helicopters in 1995. Seven second hand CH-47C Chinooks from the Canadian Armed Forces, updated by Boeing, and six factory fresh CH-47D Chinooks were delivered.
Originally a large reunion and meeting was planned on this day to celebrate this special occasion. However the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic caused a change of plans and the activities were postponed. Still for the 75th anniversary all Chinooks of the squadron fly with a large badge on the tail and a CH-47D, with registration D-666, was adorned with a special 75 years color scheme on both sides of the fuselage. On the left side the dragonfly of the formal squadron badge and on the right side the grizzly bear.
On 16th April this particular aircraft made a tour over Holland visiting different places. As Northern Skies Aviation was involved in the writing of the squadron anniversary article the crew paid a special visit to a military training ground in the North of Holland for a ten minutes photo shoot.
The results are simply awesome!!!
Northern Skies Aviation would like to congratulate the squadron and say a massive thank you to all staff involved in making this shoot possible!