A “yardsale” at Volkel AB


On April 13th Volkel AB opened its gates for 200 photographers. The event was organized as a last chance to see 19 non-operational F-16’s from the Royal Netherlands Air Force. The organization displayed the F-16’s on the platform of the former 306 Squadron (“Safari park”).

Project “PAF”
Thirteen of the nineteen F-16’s belonged to the project “PAF”. PAF stands for “Project Afstoting F-16”.
The main task of the project PAF is to prepare the F16’s for delivery to their new owners. The Royal Jordanian Air Force is one of the (most likely) candidates.
Four of the nineteen F-16’s are instructional -airframes. The last two are operational airframes.

Every shrinking number of F-16’s
The Royal Netherlands Air Force once owned 213 F-16’s (177 one – and 36 two-seaters). The F-16’s were delivered between 1979 and 1992. Only 138 F-16’s received the necessary mid-life update. The Dutch government reduced the F-16-fleet further from 2003 on. Mainly due to budget cuts there are now only 68 airframes left.