Den Helder and Eindhoven

In mid-April 2021, the Halifax Class frigate HMCS Halifax visited the Dutch military port Den Helder in the Netherlands for maintenance. During the two week maintenance period, HMCS Halifax went for a major overhaul with some of its spare parts being replaced along with its crew members. To get these spare parts from Eindhoven AB, various logistical operations were carried out by two A310 (CC-150 ‘Polaris’) and one C-17 (CC-177 ‘Globemaster III’) visited Eindhoven AB.

The onboard helicopter CH- 148 ‘Cyclone’ (a military variant of the Sikorsky S-92), with serial 148805 flew to the nearby Naval Air Station “De Kooy”. During the stay at De Kooy, several local missions were flown by the Canadian crew in their CH148 helicopter.

This was the second ‘ Canadian invasion’ of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) to the Netherlands. In 1944/1945, after the liberation of Eindhoven, Royal Canadian Air Force fighter aircraft were based at Eindhoven AB ( then named airbase B73).