Here on FTD facts we've gone into great detail to learn as much as we can about the Netherlands and have dived far into
Understanding not just the country itself
but even looking at the Netherlands and its military forces
And although the Netherlands remains quite a peaceful country
It is still one nation that takes its defence very seriously and here on ftd facts
We continue our series on the Netherlands by looking at the brave soldiers and the daring pilots and amazing crew of the entire
Organisation of what is known as the Royal Netherlands Air Force? Hey everybody what's going on?
Welcome to ftd facts the channel where we talk about people cultures and places and yeah even militaries from all around the world
Now today here we are
Like I said gonna look at the Air Force of the Netherlands because in our previous videos
We've talked a lot about the Netherlands we've done videos on the country itself, and we've looked at the special forces
We've looked at the Marine Corps and just the military as a whole and by the way guys if you guys are interested in any
of that sort of stuff
I'm gonna put some cards throughout this video and some stuff down there in the description box and at the end of this video for
You guys to check out also actually before we get into the video if you guys really like this
Content and you guys want us to continue to talk about the Netherlands Air Force or you want us to talk more about?
more of the Netherlands or the Netherlands military
Well hit that like button because if we get over 5,000 likes we'll continue this sort of stuff cool
But either way guys, let's get looking at the air force of the Netherlands
Now the main task of the Netherlands Air Force according to their own website
Is that the Royal Netherlands Air Force is a modern high-tech Armed Forces
And it is a service that is active on a global basis
now as for the Air Force
it lends support in combating international unrest and
provides in disaster relief and at home in the Netherlands the Air Force ensures security from the air and
For these purposes it has highly qualified personnel
Aircraft helicopters and other weapon systems at their disposal now
Of course within the Netherlands Air Force they all work under the international laws within war in peacetime
And like I said, the Netherlands Air Force is really big on providing disaster relief as a matter of fact
They have bases or temporary setups in about six different countries around the world at least
But who are the people within the Air Force of the Netherlands?
Well for its size they say there is approximately about 8,000 people currently within the Royal Netherlands Air Force now, of course
That doesn't mean everybody is a pilot as a matter of fact, they got crew
They've got logistics people working for it. And as a matter of fact they say they have approximately
175 craft that is ready to go
but one of the coolest things about
The Royal Air Force is its history and of course if we're talking about facts of the Air Force
Well, we got a look at history because those things are important as well because for this particular group it was on July 1st
1913 that the Dutch army had founded what is known as the army aviation?
group known as the
lva now at that time the lva had a airfield at so stubborn now because of this this has made the Air Force of the
Netherlands the second youngest group within all of the Royal Netherlands army now as it originally started they only had approximately
Four pilots and between them. They shared one little small plane until the arrival of the French H
F point 2 0 now what I found really fascinating
About these four pilots is that they actually got their pilot's licence on their own
They spent their own time their own money into getting the licenses
They weren't provided by the government and during this time one of the most
important pilots within the army aviation group was willem
Versteeg who was the first dutch soldier to ever have a
Pilot's licence and he also made the first flight for the Royal Netherlands Air Force in an aircraft
Which is known as the van Mille bricken, which was a farm and type plane that are originally produced in France
In which for the van Mille brick and aircraft they only had three of them and two of them were used as trainers
I also want to point out that the van Mille brick and plane was built by
Marni's van Mille who was one of the earliest if not the first real aviation
Manufacturer and builder of the Netherlands and although the farm and type aircraft was of French design the original
van Mille bricken planes for the Royal Dutch Air Force or the army
Én group at the time were modified farman type planes that were built by the Dutch and for the Dutch
however
by the time World War one came around the Dutch forces of the Netherlands remained very
neutral is because during that time they were focused more on their own soldiers that were doing a lot of training around that time and
Because they chose to focus more on training
There was more specialized training in aviation that became available in things such as photography as well
There were also new bases
Opening up for the Air Force of the Netherlands and it seemed like it was going to be a really really
growing thing for the Netherlands, but unfortunately
It was after World War one that the budget for what is known as the Army Aviation Group
was majorly cut and of course, there are a lot of different reasons of why but one of the biggest reasons
Is that countries within Europe were focusing on the League of Nations?
Which was basically like the UN after World War Two an organization that promoted World Peace
however
this was all to change because by the time of the
1930s tensions in Europe began to heighten and with war right around the corner the politicians of the
Netherlands attempted to rebuild the air force in which they renamed the Army Aviation Group to the Army Aviation Brigade in
1939 and with war that was definitely coming to Europe the Dutch had built as many planes as they could but due to political
issues and budget issues by the end of 1939 they had only
176 combat planes in which many of these planes were produced by the Dutch manufacturer named Fokker
And of course, I'm gonna talk about Fokker just a little bit. Although it's not actually part of the Air Force
It is related to it very heavily, especially during this time
And one thing that I found really fascinating for me
And I didn't even know this and a lot of people from around the world may not know this as well
Is that Fokker? Although really heavily related to the German military in World War one they were actually Dutch
Yeah, this is because the founder Anthony Fokker actually comes from a Dutch background being born in what was once Betar which is now Jakarta
Indonesia and of course for Anthony and his company they built a lot of planes that the Germans used during the First World War
However, at the end of the war because of the Treaty of Versailles it forbid Germany from making any aircraft
So because of that he took his company and moved it all the way back to the Netherlands. But even with the
176 combat planes produced by Fokker and other companies as well. They could not stop the inevitable forces of the German army
It was in the early hours of May 10th
1940 that Germany had invaded the Netherlands and began occupying the region and the German army just had a
superior force they came right in and they completely wiped out the Army Aviation Brigade within five days and
Unfortunately for this every single Netherlands pilot was lost during the battle
But it should be noted that although the Germans did attack the Germans lost a lot more planes
Apparently they lost over 300 of them
so the
Netherlands did put up quite a good fight and keep in mind for some of the air crews and pilots of the Netherlands they did
manage to escape and flew to North America and England and began flying again and
Trained even more and because of their major loss during the invasion Queen
Well helmet awarded the air brigade the highest accommodation. That one can be given in the Netherlands
And that is the military William sword
now
of course during this time all the forces that were within the Indies had fled to places like
Australia when the Japanese invaded and during the war pilots and crews from the Dutch made squadrons like 320 squadron
Which worked heavily with the RAF as well? There is the popular 322 squadron which still exists today?
Of course
There was the 321 but that got absorbed into the 320 squadron and let's also mention the Dutch and Australian
squadron known as eighteen or
120 and II I and although during this time the Dutch didn't really have a major home because it had been occupied by the
Germans the air force of the Netherlands did have pilots training in an established flying school in Jackson, Mississippi
So we talked a lot about all this army brigade, but how did the Royal Netherlands Air Force name become its thing
well
This happened on March 27th 1953 when the remaining air brigades of the Netherlands were reformed into what is currently known as the Royal
Netherlands Air Force it's also interesting to know that a lot of the equipment that was being used at this time for the Dutch
Was actually donated by the RAF as a matter of fact
they flew Spitfires until about
1954 and
Of course, you may be wondering about how the Dutch transferred into Jets last for the Royal Netherlands Air Force
They received the 38 meteor f-4s in 1948
But the question is what is the first fighter that was built by the Dutch? And for the Dutch, that would be the Fokker
S14 Mach trainer in which 21 were originally built and although they had their first flight on may 19
1951 they were introduced into full service by
1955 and it's during this time that the Air Force saw service in New Guinea as the area was a major
Disputed territory between Dutch and Indonesia. So let's fast forward a little bit
Let's brush through some of the more recent history, although a little older during the Cold War
The Netherlands was operating defense of West Germany
Of course
It had many bases and squadrons that were also a part of NATO
Working with the USAF and since then it's pilots and crews have seen action in Yugoslavia as well
They were in Kyrgyzstan at the Mehnaz Air Base with the Norwegians and the Danish in which they provided support in Afghanistan
They've also been in places like Mally Jordan and they created their first joint strike fighter unit with the u.s
in November of 2014
Of course, they've also been in operations within Iraq and Syria
but through the sands of time many squadrons have moved around and many military bases have been shut down and currently there is
Approximately nine Air Force bases within the Netherlands two of them are main bases for their current main fighter
which is the f-16 and those bases are Leeuwarden and vocal in which they are home to the three main fighter squadrons known as the
313 the 312 and the famous
322 for helicopters
They have two main bases in which their main attack helicopter is the Apache a H 64 D
but as for equipment
Let's take a quick look at what kind of stuff these guys use
Currently the Royal Netherlands Air Force uses the f16 as its main fighter with approximately 61 fighters ready to go
However, the one thing is these f-16 fighters are set to be retired very shortly and replaced by the new
F-35 in total they have approximately 37 of these new fighters to be coming into the main service
they also have
viii trainer versions of the
F-16 and as for Apaches they have about twenty eight of them and also for the air force
It's doing something rather new. It's working with civilian companies to create its very first satellite, which is set to be released in
2019 I think so there you have it that is just a look at the great and amazing people and the forces of the
Netherlands Air Force what do you think of these guys? And would you fly for them?
Let us know your thoughts down there in the comment section below as always guys. Thank you guys so much for watching
My name's Dave Walpole
and by the way
If you guys like these videos and you want to learn more about the military or you just want to learn more about the Netherlands
Guys, I'm gonna have some videos at the end of this
There's also some of the description box below and of course
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So with that in mind you guys gotta leave comments down there in the section
Comment section below so we know kind of the stuff that you guys want us to talk about in the future
But either way this has been you and me learning about the Royal Netherlands Air Force an amazing group with a deep and rooted history
an organisation that stands up to defend its culture its
Country's identity and most importantly the many amazing people within it
This is the Royal Netherlands Air Force. They may be small in numbers, but great in deeds
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