[MilCom] Dutch Air Force training

[AllanStern at aol.com]

Dutch Air Force training
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   Remember those Netherlands Air Force F-16s we used to hear  training at 
Avon Park Bombing Range and basing out of Melbourne IAP? You may  remember some 
of the folks in Melbourne were so upset with the noise that they  got some 
weak-kneed politicians to run the planes and the company (Aero Group)  clear out 
of town.
   Well, here is the latest news on them. They will be  training in Ohio.
 
AL STERN  Satellite Beach FL 
 
Dutch military pilots to train at US base
The Associated PressPublished:  December 8, 2006

ESPRINGFIELD, Ohio: Military pilots from the  Netherlands soon will begin 
training at the city's Air National Guard base,  bringing new life to a facility 
that had been scheduled to close under the  military's realignment plan last 
year before an intelligence unit was assigned  there.
The mission will involve F-16 pilot training for the  Royal Netherlands Air 
Force Guard, US Representative David Hobson and US  senators Mike DeWine and 
George Voinovich announced Friday.
"What a day for Springfield," Hobson told the Springfield News-Sun  newspaper.
Under the agreement, 16 Dutch pilots will be trained  at the base each year 
beginning in May and continuing until September of 2010.  Base workers will 
maintain 14 Dutch jets. The mission will add 105 full-time  jobs, most in 
aircraft maintenance. The base currently employs about 1000,  including 450 full-time 
workers.
Voinovich said lawmakers met  several times with the Dutch ambassador and Air 
Force officials to make the case  for the Springfield base.
Weather and air space restrictions in  the area are similar to what Dutch 
pilots deal with at home, Hobson  said.
The base was saved in June when it became the home of a  unit of military 
analysts who would review data such as satellite images.