January 2025

From all of us at Scramble we wish you a very Happy New Year! We hope you survived the festive period with full bellies and mild hangovers, and ready to tackle the next twelve months with all the goods it may bring.

We are nearly all caught up with the Movements, for the Netherlands, Belgium and Military Elsewhere, and they will be published in the next couple of weeks while we finalise some data. We have introduced some changes behind the scenes as well to make it easier for our editors to stay as up to date as possible.

To kick off 2025 we have two articles: a book review and an overview of the Costa Rica Army. The book review was written by Warbirds-expert Gert Jan Mentink and details the history of the Dutch Dakota Association, written by Paul van der Horst en Coert Munk. Wim Sonneveld used his expertise to provide a nice and comprehensive overview of the Costa Rica Servicio de Vigilancia Aérea.

The February 2025 edition will be available from Sunday 2 February and the deadline for photos is Tuesday 28 January.

The end of an era: A tribute to Dakota PH-PBA, very likely to be the last flying DC-3 in the Netherlands. It once belonged to H.R.H. Prince Bernhard and is seen here while overflying the royal palace of Soestdijk, the residency of the prince. Photo by courtesy of Ben Ullings of Aviationphotos.nl