In May this year a SA.316B Alouette III reached the 10.000 flying hours mark during a training mission. Reason enough to paint 10.000 HRS largely in gold on the fuselage. The particular Alouette III with serial A-301, is one of the four remaining Dutch SA.316B Alouette IIIs of the
Defence Helicopter Command and is based at Gilze- Rijen Air Base in the Netherlands. The A-301 with construction number 1301 entered active duty on the 4th of August 1965 as a SE.3160 Alouette III. It was repainted in a royal blue livery after it received deep maintenance at RUAG Aerospace at Alpnach, Switzerland. Some modifications were made there and it returned to the Netherlands on the 24th of August 2004 as a SA.316B. Just in time for the 40th anniversary of this type of helicopter within the Dutch defence. Nice detail was that the price for the modification in 2004, was slightly higher then the actual purchase price back in 1963. Nowadays the helicopters are still going strong on a variety of duties, but the primary tasks are the royal flights and VIP flights.