The Starfighter Serials

d/d 22sep64, 10 Wing - 23 Smaldeel (sep64-apr68) w/o 04apr68

Note:
This Starfighter, was first testflown after assembly at Gosselies on August 4th, 1964. After 3 testflights the aircraft was declared ready for delivery on August 14th. Then the Belgium Air Force made one test/acceptance flight on Augsut 24th, 1964. Almost 1 month later it was delivered with engine nr 414666 to the Belgium Air Force on September 22nd, 1964 and transferred to 23 Smaldeel, part of 10Wing at Kleine Brogel AB that same day. Until its fatal accident on April 4th, 1968 it never received IRAN. Known visits outside Belgium included two visits to Leeuwarden AB on the 19th and 20th February 1968.

Accident Reports:

4 April 1968
This day the FX75 crashed near Peer, not far from Kleine Brogel AB. It happened during take-off from Kleine Brogel AB. After the F-104 pulled up its undercarriage it climbed to 20 meters when suddenly the aircraft nosed down again towards the runway. The pilot pulled up again but failed and the aircraft hit the runway in almost horizontal level. The pylontanks exploded and the pilot lost control completely when it passed the end of the runway and struck the landinglights crashing in the field. The 1st Lt.vl. Leonard "Jim" Van Roy (10 FBW - 23 Squadron) was tragically killed. The accident was caused by defect in the stabilizor control system.

Belgium Starfighter guru and ex-F-104 pilot Jan Govaerts wrote down a small report on this very tragic accident:

10Wing at Kleine Brogel AB never experienced a fatal or disastrous crash on landing, but it had to endure two major crashes during the take-off run. Most of the time the F-104G fighter-bombers from Kleine Brogel had to take-off heavily loaded, as required for their low-level mission. Four extra fuel tanks on the wings and a bomb dispenser did not make acceleration easy. Every inch of the runway was needed to get the Starfighter into the air. Runway markers helped the pilots to check their rotation and lift the nose off at the time to become airborne.
On April 4th, 1968 1st Lt. Leonard "Jim" Van Roy (belonging to the 23rd Smaldeel of the 10th Wing) failed to lift off and he crashed at the end of the runway inside the FX75, he was sadly killed.