The Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16 Solo Demo Team flew its first display in 1979. For the first seven years, the commissioned display aircraft were not specially painted, but in 1986, a special scheme was designed for that season's aircraft and the J-616 series F-16s were specially marked to celebrate 35 years of 311 Squadron. In 1987, smokejumpers were introduced for the first time. Since then, display aircraft and reserve jets have been given special schemes every two years. Each scheme is unique but none are as spectacular as the current 'Orange Lion' design which was applied to one aircraft (J-015) in 2009.

Until 2009, as the scheme changed, the display pilots were also changed every two display seasons, the squadron hosting the team was also rotated between each fighter squadron at its airbase.

Captain Stefan 'Stitch' Hutten of the 312th Fighter Squadron based at Volkel airbase completed his second season this year as the demonstration pilot for the RNLAF F-16 Demo Team. After his last appearance at the Sanicole airshow in Leopoldsburg, he agreed to join our Air Academy Skyvan flight for an air-to-air photo shoot. For an incredible seven minutes, 'Stitch' clung to the back of the camera plane, even using a fogger. Occasionally he used the airbrakes to maintain a safe distance. His final maneuver was as spectacular as his stunts, he unwittingly backed up slightly and simultaneously pulled his stick back while stepping on the accelerator to climb vertically and he disappeared.

Cpt 'Stitch' Hutton summed up his time with the demo team; "It has been an incredible experience and a great honor to fly the RNLAF F-16 Demo for the past 2 years! We have visited over 14 countries, all NATO partners and flown over 120 demonstrations! I was amazed by your enthusiasm during all those events. Words cannot describe the feeling of flying one of today's most advanced combat aircraft in front of hundreds of thousands of people. Your support, kindness and energy make us smile, every day!"

The 'orange lion' scheme has now run for an unprecedented five seasons of the show, plans for the 2014 season are still to be announced. 'Stitch' is fully aware of the need for cuts to the current defense budget, funding for future performing teams may be reduced or even eliminated. He also understands the need to keep the support of the Dutch people behind the military and the F-16 Demo Team is one of the best ways to show their people the flying skills of fighter pilots. As a final message, he wrote; "Air Forces around the world are experiencing huge budget cuts. Air shows in the future will probably be a rare phenomenon. Even we ourselves are still not sure what will happen in the near future. It has been my personal experience that giving you an insight into what we do is critical to understanding why defense matters. Not just from a demo point of view but from a military point of view.

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