Eight Sud Aviation Alouette II helicopters (registration numbers from H-1 to H-8) entered service with the SAR-squadron of the Royal Dutch Air Force (Klu) in 1958. Their home base was Ypenburg, but one of Alouettes was stationed at the isle of Terschelling in the northern part of the Netherlands for stand-by duty in case there might happen an accident during air force exercises on the nearby ranges at Terschelling and the neighbouring island of Vlieland. The Alouette II’s stayed in service with the Dutch Air Force until 1965 when they were replaced by Alouette III’s.

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For many years the only plastic models available of the Alouette II were from the French Heller and Mach companies (1/72). But some years ago Revell released a magnificent 1/32 kit representing a German or French Army Alouette. To make it represent a Dutch Air Force Alouette however there was a lot of work to do because the Alouette II’s of the KLu had wheels instead of skids and some special SAR-parts like: a front mirror (that gave the pilot look down possibility during rescue operations) a ‘hoist’ and inflatable ‘floaters’ that should be used in case the engine would seize during operations above sea.

I scratch-build all these parts with the help of photographs I made from the Alouette II in the Dutch Military Air Force Museum in Soesterberg. Then I painted the heli in overall dark blue with high-visibility fluorescent red panels.

Shortly after I had finished my Alouette II, there suddenly came a new release of Revell: an Alouette II 1/32 in Dutch Air Force colours including all the items I had scratch-build…

I could not bring up the energy to build another Alouette, so the one pictured here is the first released German/French Army Alouette converted to a Klu Alouette with scratch-built parts.

Gerrit