At Hoogeveen airport they are already rubbing their hands. They get a special permanent guest: a Spitfire from New Zealand.
The airport is expanding. There will be sixteen new hangars, where private and sports aircraft can be parked. The first five hangars are already ready, four of them already filled. And the hangars yet to be built are as good as rented.
A Spitfire will be placed in one of the hangars yet to be built. Not just any one. No, one from New Zealand. Of course, that plane is not just going to sit in the hangar. It will therefore take off and land at Hoogeveen.
“It would be nice if people came,” says André Snippe on behalf of the airport board. “We have a nice restaurant where people come to watch planes. It is quite special that such a plane comes.”
These old British fighter planes were used during the Second World War. Just over 20,000 were made between 1938 and 1948. And one is currently being made in New Zealand: a replica.
“A Dutchman has emigrated to New Zealand. There he has decided to build a Spitfire, but he wants to return to the Netherlands. Then he must have somewhere to put his plane here in the Netherlands. He heard that we build hangars, so he ended up with us,” says Snippe. “That’s really great.”
It fits in with the airport to get a more attractive appearance. “When I was small and young, I often came here to watch,” says Erwin Slomp, chairman of the Hoogeveen Airport Foundation.
He points to the playground next to the brasserie De Spotter. “I think I played in the same garden then that is still there now,” he says. In other words: it does need to be replaced.
The control tower is above the restaurant. It will be moved and will be a bit higher. “The new one will be twice as high,” says Snippe. “That is also with a view to safety. Then the traffic controllers have a better overview.” In addition, the current tower is also outdated and suffers from leaks.
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