WILLEMSTAD - Aviation enthusiasts in Curaçao can indulge themselves in the Curaçao Museum from today. The well-known plane spotter Robert 'Robby' Cijntje has set up the aviation exhibition 'Vleugels' (wings) in the museum.  

He did this together with Cedric Bronswinkel, director of the Museo Aeronautiko Curaçao. The museum in Tera Kòrá manages a special collection that shows the aviation history of the former Netherlands Antilles.  

Part of that collection has been temporarily lent to the Curaçao Museum to be exhibited together with Robby Cijntje's photos.  

St Maarten Airport  

Robert 'Robby' Cijntje was born on the island of Curaçao in 1952 and raised in Sint Maarten in a small fishing village close to Princess Juliana's international airport.  

During the afternoon, after school, when he was not fishing or diving in Simpson Bay, Robby spent a lot of time at Maho Beach at the base of the now famous airstrip and developed a special love for airplanes, ships and boats.  

In 1971 Robby joined the Royal Dutch Air Force and started photography while at the Royal Military Academy in Breda. In 1985 he returned to Sint Maarten as a computer software engineer and in 2004 picked up digital photography at the annual Heineken Regatta.  

In that year he also started again with plane spotting at the Princess Juliana International Airport. In 2008 Robby went back to Europe and in June 2010 Robby graduated from the 'Fotovakschool' in the Netherlands. During the summer months he visited the most important air shows and regattas in the Benelux and during the winter Robby gave workshops and shot indoor sporting events. Robby has been back in Curaçao since May 2016.  

The exhibition 'Vleugels' by Cijntje and Bronswinkel can be seen in the Snip Gallery of the Curaçao Museum until Saturday 13 August 2022.