Soesterberg, August 19th, 1970

[Keflavik69]

Today 54 years ago Soesterberg was visited by Phantoms from two squadrons of the 81st TFW to practise gunnery over the Northsea. The closure of Wheelus AB in Libya resulted in a regular stream of USAFE F-4's to Soesterberg for use of the ranges over the Northsea which was, as one can understand, highly appreciated by the enthousiasts at Soesterberg.

Soesterberg 19 August 1970. F-4D 65-0692 WR 81TFW fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Soesterberg 19 August 1970. F-4D 65-0711 WR 81TFW fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Soesterberg 19 August 1970. F-4D 65-0712 WR 81TFW fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Soesterberg 19 August 1970. F-4D 65-0738 WR 81TFW fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Soesterberg 19 August 1970. F-4C 64-0886 WT 81TFW fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Soesterberg 19 August 1970. F-4C 64-0909 WT 81TFW fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Soesterberg 19 August 1970. F-4C 64-0911 WT 81TFW fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Soesterberg 19 August 1970. F-4C 64-0925 WT 81TFW fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

I hope you found these images of interest.
Kind regards,
Arnold

[iainpeden]

Thanks, Arnold. From the angle I assume there was a mound to view the aircraft from, and I would guess at a very low fence.

[Mustang531]

Thanks Arnold, once again you've provided some great shots and memories. Like a lot of people who view this site, I appreciate the time you take to add these for our enjoyment.

[Stratocruiser]

OOOOH BRILLIANT!
I have very fond memories of those wonderful Bentwaters and Woodbridge 'Tooms' (not forgetting those at Lakenheath) in the 70's.
May I be one of the first to wholeheartedly thank you for another excellent memory-jerking post

[Weazel69]

"TOP NOTCH" shot's of "TOP NOTCH" Aircraft

[gvr]

Thanks, Arnold. From the angle I assume there was a mound to view the aircraft from, and I would guess at a very low fence.

Correct. Later during the late 80'ies at this part of the perimeter an earth mound was put up inside the perimeter as well as additional fencing. At the same time an official spottershill was erected at the east side of the base roughly north of the approach axis which introduced backlighting and made taxi shots almost impossible (with enough mm's you can pull this off, but you still ran into backlight issues as well as other inherent issues with camera technology at the time. ;-) )
An "unoffical" spot was created roughly at the same location as these pics were taken which provided an elevated view but a bit farther away. This was on top of a sandhill. This spot was active from the late 80'ies until mid 90'ies area (the USAFE left in 1994 and the RNLAF in 2008) after it was fenced of by the original owner. Before that he allowed spotters to use it. So at one time there were two spots. One official and "unofficial" The latter provided no backlighting and thus the best position.

[Keflavik69]

Thanks, Arnold. From the angle I assume there was a mound to view the aircraft from, and I would guess at a very low fence.

Thank you iainpeden. Yes, Soesterberg had a taxitrack for the US part of the base a bit similar to the taxitrack at Bentwaters near the church. I took photos there with a standard 55mm lens and the Daggers and Phantoms covered about 3/4 of the neg. The fence was only 1 meter high (O, those innoncent days) and immediately next to the fence there was a pile of concrete pieces of about 1.5 meter high.

[hvaneupen]

It seems to me that fences/distance have the same developmentcurve as our photo-equipment. Great pictures Arnold, wished I was there in those day's!

[david14]

Fantastic photos given how long ago that was, a great base to visit too I remember

[KeBul]

I knew from the title and poster these were going to be good...

Lovely stuff Arnold, top captures thanks for sharing.

Kev

[herbert]

Magnificent.

[paddyboy]

The shots: stunning

The subject matter: awesome

Thanks, yet again, for a superb post, Arnold

Paddyboy

[bvdbogaert]

Yet another beautifull set. As always.

Prachtig Arnold!

[Vulture 01]

Those bring back happy memories of when I first started spotting military aircraft. As already mentioned, the F4 was the big cheese in Europe with wings at Lakenheath, Woodbridge/Bentwaters,
Alconbury, Ramstein, Hahn, Spangdhalem, Bitburg and Torrejon. That's a lot of jets! Happy days....... Many thanks for the pictures.

[Petepilot]

I ALWAYS look forward to your posts Arnold....

Sometimes, they make me cry....with joy!

F4s from the 81st....in B&W! What's not to to like!?

Thank you, Arnold!