Holland has a long and traditional military history. This is especially reflected by the interesting history of the Royal Netherlands Air Force "Koninklijke Luchtmacht" - KLU. The Royal Air Force of the Netherlands is the youngest branch of the Dutch Armed Forces. Initially, the Netherlands only had an airborne unit of the army, which were established at the Soesterberg Airbase in July 1913. Today, the Dutch National Military Museum is located on the grounds of the former military airfield. After the end of the second world war, when it was used by the German Luftwaffe, the base was rebuilt from scratch by the Netherlands and reopened in August 1951 by the KLU. It was initially used as a center for Tactical Air Defence. Later Lockheed T-33 trainers were stationed at the base. With the rise of the Cold War, the USA strengthened its military presence in Europe again and Soesterberg became an American Air Base in addition to the Dutch Vliegbasis from 1954 onwards. Among the aircraft types stationed at the base were F-86 Sabres, F-100 Super Sabres, F-102 Delta Daggers, F-4 Phantoms and F-15 Eagles. The airbase had been shut down in 2008. Today the place combines the collections of the former Military Aviation Museum in Soesterberg and the Army Museum in Delft. There are many interesting exhibits, including tanks, aircraft, armoured vehicles and helicopters. The history of the Netherlands and its armed forces is impressively presented in this remarkable museum. For further information visit the museum’s office website under https://www.nmm.nl/en/.
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Marc is based in Wuppertal in the western part of Germany and works as a specialist for business information in Cologne. As a former private pilot Marc has flown light-aircraft for more than 30 years. So it It is quite obvious that he still has a strong interest in things with wings and is frequent visitor to European aviation museums. After retiring from active flying Marc concentrated on photography and had been accepted as a member of the International Society for Aviation Photography - ISAP. He is a regular contributor to aviation magazines and calender-productions. His work is presented on http://www.flugsicht.com.