d/d 08may63, 306sq (may63-jul64), 322sq (jul64-nov64) w/o 17nov64

Detailed history :
It was build/assembled by Fokker from September 1962 and testflown as KG-145 until its acceptance on the 6th of May 1963. Its first flight was on Januari 17th, 1963. Delivered to the Dutch Air Force on the 8th of May 1963 it was assigned to 306 squadron at Twenthe AFB. On the 24th of July 1964 it was transferred to 322 squadron at Leeuwarden AFB on loan. On November 17th that same year it was lost in a very tragic accident in Norway. It had only estimated 83,59 flying hours and engine had nr 414-295.

Accident Reports:

17 November 1964 (F-104G)
This starfighter crashed after it run out of fuel into the mountains near Narvik and Trontheim, Norway some 25 km south-east of Kristiansund, near Straumsnes, Tingvoll. The pilot being 322sq commander Major Bill Heitmeijer (39) was sadly killed. The cause was oxigen-mask poisoning which made the pilot unconscious.
In the morning (09:21 zulu time) Major Bill Heitmeijer toke off (Mission 07) from Leeuwarden Air Base, together with Lt Dames, to the south for a navigation trip. Around 09:38Z both returned back heading Leeuwarden. Reaching the Friesland county at approx. 30000 ft, being on autopilot, something was wrong with Major Bill Heitmeijer. All radio contact was lost with the D-8045 and the aircraft flew on heading the North-North-East in a straight line. Immediately wingman Lt. Dames attempted to awaken the pilot but after a while when he ran out of fuel he had to go back to Leeuwarden around 10:10Z. Around 12:00h local time his attempts were taken over by a Norwegian Air Force F-86 Sabre which had taken off from Rygge Air base around 10:45Z. The F-86 pilot, Arne Riegels, arrived with the D-8045 at 11:00Z and flew very close to the Starfighter. He checked the pilot but the the pilot was unconcious or maybe dead. He even brought the F-104 inside the jet-wash of his F-86 but also these turbulations did not have any effect any more. Suddenly the starfighter dived vertical from 200 meter and finally crashed into the mountains. This was the moment that the aircraft ran out of fuel. Time was 11:17Z, almost 2 hours after the Starfighter took off from Leeuwarden AB.
As already mentioned, the official investigation showed that the accident was caused by oxygen mask poisoning, a reason to initiate a special treatment of oxygen mask cleaning and checking within the NATO Air Forces. The pilot's family has been at the crash site twice to remember the accident as some kind of memorial. Only half of the engine could be covered and the rest of the aircraft desintegrated. At this moment still a lot of debris including a big part of the J-79 engine can be found at the memorial location. This location can be found at coordinations N 62 59, 495 - E 008 03,161 and is just beneath the mountain Nipa, in Tingvoll Borough. (Be aware that there are two mountains called Nipa in the same Borough area).

The plate on the memorial shows a number of interesting radio conversation during the tragic ending mission. In order of zulu-time:

<07A> = Bill Heitmeijer, <07B> = Lt Dames, <bluebird> = Lt Riegels, <redpipe> = AirControl.
09:42Z - <07A> "Happy with position, over to Leeuwarden Approach, channel 17".
10:02Z - <07B> "I think he is in oxygen trouble and he is unconsious"
10:08Z - <07B> "Roger, I think that Alpha is in autopilot. My fuelstate is now 32 and I can't wake him up"
11:00Z - <redpipe> "You may have target 3000 ft below you"
11:03Z - <bluebird> "Mission 07, mission 07, I am flying in formation with you. Can you look out your right, look out your right"
11:15Z - <bluebird> "Mission 07, mission 07, pull up your aircraft. Mission 07, mission 07, pull up your aircraft"

The accident had also a great impact on all the people at Leeuwarden Air Base.

NOTE: See also Norwegian Starfighter webpage by Tom Svendsen about this accident.