It was an impulse purchase like no other. Tonnie Bouman from Veen bought a complete aircraft on the internet. After a few years he has now really started working on the Canadian military aircraft. “It is a monster job, but it will be a gem.”
“Look, this is still sand from Afghanistan”, says Tonnie beaming. He cleans the inside of the device with a brush. “Only forty windows to go,” he jokes.
Tonnie now also knows what he is going to use the plane for. He wants to rent it out as a meeting room. The tailpiece will house beds and fold-out televisions in the roof. Original aircraft parts can be seen in the floor through glass plates. The highlight? “The cockpit, of course. It is still almost fully working. Everyone wants to sit there.”
“Daddy needs to be on his phone.”
It was a turbulent operation. It was almost impossible to get the 26-meter-long colossus with a 24-meter wingspan on its site. And when it was placed, something terrible happened: the wings broke off. It has now all been repaired and it is shining in the sun.
For those in the know: this is a DHC-7 from Canada. This one had been collecting dust at Eindhoven Air Base for a while. Defense uses the device to transport equipment and soldiers to Afghanistan.
While taxiing on the track, the box was damaged and has not been repaired since. And after a while it was no longer airworthy. The Canadian owner took the engines off and ‘donated’ the coffin to the airbase. He then put it up for sale.
Tonnie got wind of the plane through an auction site. “Dad needs to be on his phone,” he said to his offspring during dinner. “Really impulsive. I hadn’t arranged anything for transport or where to put it.” And unexpectedly he had the highest bid and was stuck with the plane. “If I knew then how much work it would be, I would never have done it.”
Tonnie is known in Veen as the man from the building materials store who is sometimes up for strange things that are outside comfort zone fall. He once bought two helicopters that stood in front of his shop. He wants to use the plane with customers to meet in a different environment.
“Airplane spotters are here to film the last minute.”
Even though this device has been in place since 2019, it was only last May that he started the renovation of the inside. “We were too busy during corona,” says the hardware store owner. However, the deadline is tight: the project should be ready in the fall.
Despite everything, Tonnie still doesn’t regret his impulse purchase. “Every day people stop here to take pictures. Plane spotters are here to film all the time.” And his business is also on the map: “It can even be seen from the air via Google Earth.”
