SAR station Terschelling

53°21'54"N 005°12'43"E

Runway: nil

The Terschelling SAR heliport (Dutch: helihaven Terschelling, locally also known as Doodemanskisten) was a small heliport, 110 kilometer north of Amsterdam.
Located at the western edges of the village of West- Terschelling, it had a small hangar and was capable of handling up to three small (UH-1 sized) helicopters and supported the local 'Noordvaarder' air to ground shooting range, to the pilots of NATO squadrons better known as 'Jackpot'-range. To support both the range and the heliport, Terschelling island had its own air force detachment, administered from Leeuwarden Air Base.


Crew scramble towards Alouette-2 "H-6" of the Tactical Air Rescue (circa 1960, coll. NiMH)


Alouette II 'H-7' seen landing at Terschelling in July 1964 (D. Stapersma, via Wim Vink)


Alouette III 'H-67' 'Pebbles' on floats at the heliport in August 1967. 'Pebbles' was the only Alouette to be fitted with floats and only for a relatively brief period between 1966 and 1967 (Wim Vink, via e-mail).


Koninklijke Luchtmacht Alouette-III "H-75" shares the platform with Koninklijke Marine UH-1 "227" from Marine Vliegkamp (Naval Air Station) De Kooij (SAR Leeuwarden, via Facebook).


Alouette-III 'H-81' landing at the heliport in July 1977. visible in the background is the refuelling station for the heliport (Wim Vink, via e-mail)


SAR heliport, West-Terschelling, ca. 1979. The Alouette III on the platform is not a SAR heli, but a visiting example of the Leeuwarden base flight (RNLAF Photo Flight Soesterberg, via Facebook).


SAR Alouette-III 'H-20' flies by the range control tower at Terschellling


SAR scramble, filmed at Terschelling

Wim Vink wrote me: "I have been going to Terschellling on vacation annually and I used to go see "the helicopter" landing. My aunt, where I was staying, used to live not that far from the heliport. After she passed away in 1987 I used to rent a cottage at the merchant navy college, located in the same dunes where the heliport was located; you could not get closer if you wanted to.
The arrival of the first helicopter from Leeuwarden at 9.00 used to be the signal to the tourists to get out of bed. And if a helicopter flew late in the evening, it was always for a civilian medevac or a baby being born."

The air force facilities, including the heliport, were abandoned and demolished after 'Jackpot' was closed in June 1995 as a result of post-Cold War defense cuts. The range control tower, refuelling station, hangar and helipad were demolished. Only 3 years after the heliport was closed, the station had already completely disappeared. Only the RNLAF detachment barracks remained in November 2013, although plans existed to replace it with holiday appartments.