The Silver Hopper from Gilze-Rijen; Rijen, September 21, 2000

The Landing on the Town Hall Square; Text and Photograph's by Alex van Noye

In 2000 the nowadays familiar silver Bo-105 was introduced at the no 299 Squadron at Gilze-Rijen Air Base. The helicopter is often sent to various airshows across Europe. The Bölkow helicopters at Gilze-Rijen always fly under the callsign "Hopper". On September 21, during a county day, the silver Hopper landed in the middle of the center of Rijen in front of the town house. The helicopter was flying to the Town Hall Square where the helicopter landed next to the fountain. It was a fairly confined area where the helicopter had to land and a lot of sand was blown away during the landing. This ultimately resulted in a nice series of photos in the middle of the village where many spectators were present.