On 22 December 2021, the very last Boeing CH-47 Chinook type D (Delta) was taken out of service by the Royal Netherlands Air Force (“Koninklijke Luchtmacht”). The 298 squadron from Gilze- Rijen Air Base (ICAO code: EHGR), arrived with the very last flying Chinook D type (registration D-667, nickname “Rodney”, with matching callsign “Grizzly47D”) at the GLV5 training area near Oirschot, in the southern part of the Netherlands. GLV means Low Flying Area or “Gebied Laag Vliegen”, where Dutch Air Force helicopters can exercise in flying low-level and performing ‘brown-out’ landings.
This last Chinook flight was announced in various photo and spotter social media sites. And there were some 75 photographers present for an early (around 9 o’clock in the morning) and a cold (-5 degrees centigrade) photoshoot to capture the last flight of this helicopter type. The existing 11 Dutch CH-47Ds were replaced by 14 new Boeing CH-47F MYII CAAS (Common Avionics Architecture System) aircraft. This brings the total of helicopters to 20 Chinooks in total, because the 6 existing CH-47F aircraft are being modernised and brought to the same CH-47F MYII CAAS standard as the rest of the fleet.
Photos and text: Joris van Boven