Royal Air Force F-16B MLU Fighting Falcon.
Registration: J-066.
Aircraft name: Orange Jumper.
General Dynamics F-16B MLU Fighting Falcon "Orange Jumper" (J-066) was the Royal Air Force's test aircraft for many years. The aircraft could be recognised by its extra-long red and white pitot tube and a large black and white patch on top of the right wing. The air force used this aircraft to test new instruments, but also to investigate, for example, the load on the wings. The office responsible for this was called the 'Test Flying Office'. This department was located at Leeuwarden Air Base. The Orange Jumper spent its last days of active service at Volkel Air Base.
In 1998, the J-066 was converted into a test aircraft. On board came sensors, cameras and cables to operate test equipment. The orange clamps used to secure those cables are called jumpers in English, and so the name Orange Jumper, with accompanying kangaroo in the emblem, was born. To accommodate all the test equipment, several instruments were moved from the front of the cockpit to the rear. The rear cockpit was also given a head up display, intended for the flight test engineer.
This picture was taken on 29 August 2025 at the National Military Museum at the former Soesterberg airbase.
I am Jaap van den Berg and photography has become a great passion of mine since 2010. Since then I travel all over the world to take pictures of military aircrafts. But besides aircraft I also love to photograph other subjects like landscapes, architecture, flowers, animals, .. Read more…