The origin of the van Loon strain.

The man of few words, but great deeds: that was the Belgian craftsman Louis van Loon. Famous because of his excellent race results, in fact he raced so well he was not allowed to race anywhere, he was shut out... legendary because his pigeons, beginning in the eighties, gave the pigeon sport an entirely new vision. Besides speed the van Loon pigeons proved to posses an unheard of determination and stamina. The van Loon pigeons also showed that they made excellent crossing material with any of the other inbred strains, but especially with the Janssen pigeons. As a result the van Loon strain grew to be one of the most influential strains in the history of the racing pigeons sport.

Louis van Loon in his younger years had already mastered the art of searching for and breeding of top pigeons. Having an excellent eye for class he assembled top pigeons from local lofts and from them forged his own strain...and with them, flew the entire area under the table. When he was no longer welcome anywhere on the Short Distance (Vitesse) and Middle Distance races, Louis decided to enter his blue wonder pigeons in the Dagfond (One day long distance) races... this quickly resulted in Provincial and National victories.
Gerard Koopman personally introduced the van Loon pigeons to the Netherlands. As a young boy he became a close friend of the transport truck driver...obtained his pigeons and followed his advice...and began his period of great success.