THE STORY OF THE RAFA 1077 SQUADRON THE ‘EDAMBUSTERS’ 1974 - 2008

In 1974, members of the Gilze-Rijen Aero Club flew remembrance missions and dropped Edam cheeses by parachute on to the lawns of the RAF Association Nursing Home, ‘Sussexdown’, in Sussex. In those early days the local press and TV coined the phrase ‘Edambuster’ the name by which they are known today. In later years the aero club of the Dutch charter company ‘Transavia Airline’ took over the honours. However, in 1995 a group of amateur private pilots at Lelystad Airport were trained in the art of formation flying by the ex-military members of the ‘Fokker Four’ demonstration team and immediately afterwards they took over the Edambusters duties with their motley collection of aircraft.

The Edambusters now take part in various ceremonial activities, mostly on the 4th May, the Dutch Remembrance Day, the RAFA Amsterdam Branch’s annual Dutch Day at Sussexdown in June and in demonstrating cheese dropping at various air shows in support of the charitable aims of the RAF Association. Because there is both a serious and a pleasurable element to the activities, one can also witness a responsible attitude towards flight safety and a relaxed atmosphere among the Edambusters as friends and members of the Royal Air Forces Amsterdam Branch.

A 2008 'DUTCH DAY' MISSION

It is always a pleasure to fly to England for Dutch Day. First there is the countryside of Holland to enjoy, followed by the waters of Zeeland. One thinks of the the culture and history while passing Brugge and on seeing the river IJzer feeling sad trying to imagine the horrors of the Great War. Over Cap Griz-Nez one can clearly see the cliffs of Dover and you start crossing the "Pas de Calais" with self-confidence. The rolling countryside of the south of England recedes when you report the illusive chimney's of Brighton prior to landing at Shoreham.
The trouble is the met-office doesn’t always tell you what you would like to hear. This year, a frontal system stretched from the south of France to the north of Scotland and was slowly moving north.
So, we left Lelystad in good spirits, hoping we would not be flying against a barrier. Over Belgium the visibility diminished rapidly and a ‘black wall’ near Dunkirk made us divert to Oostend where the local met officer told us that there was no chance of crossing the Channel that day. We informed Malcolm at ‘Sussexdown’ of our misfortune, then checked in the highly recommended "Ter Streep" hotel and made the most of our overnight stay.
The best chance of crossing the channel under those circumstances is early morning or late evening so we reported to the airport the following morning at 08:00 local time but, due to fog, there was no chance of leaving. So we had to wait in the airport restaurant until late afternoon and sadly, we missed the Dutch Day airshow at Storrington. When we did fly out the remains of the front still lingered over Kent and at first we tried to pass under it, but in no time found ourselves in heavy cloud which we could only escape by climbing to higher altitudes. We eventually arrived at the hotel in Worthing just in time to change and enjoy a lovely dinner that night at the Sussex Yacht Club in Shoreham.
The following morning, just before lunch, the residents and staff gathered on the ‘Sussexdown’ terrace and we were happy to make two fly-pasts before we disappeared in the direction of Belgium. We found Kortrijk without a problem but on landing we discovered that all restaurants were closed. No famous Belgian freedom fries for us then but several "bagettes" were finally acquired after a long walk.
The homeward stretch was trouble free at first but heavy showers inland seemed determined to make life difficult for us. However once in the air approaching Terneuzen things brightened up as was shown on the "buienradar" that I could receive on my mobile phone while flying low. Our usual enthusiastic welcome reception party were at Steenbergen and they flew the Dutch and RAFA colours as we made our traditional low pass.
Finally, tired and rather late, we hangared our aircraft and discussed our memorable voyage over a welcome cup of tea.

Contributed by Willem Baggerman.

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