Category:Aviation
The Belgian Air Force Days are the highlight of the airshow season for me. Especially when the BAF Days come to Kleine Brogel airbase. So there I was, all geared up, all excited and ready for 3 days of air power demonstrations. Starting with the spotter’s day on Friday. It was a Viper and Lightning fest.
And then, on Saturday, as a walked from the parking lot to the gate, I busted my ankle. That was… THE END. No more BAF Days for me. A major bummer.
The 15th Wing Air Transport of the Belgian Air Force turns 75 this year. And they’ve celebrated their anniversary with an open door. They’re based at Melsbroek Air Base. That is basically the north east corner of Brussels airport. So next time you catch a flight to your holiday destination, walk down to the end of the A pier. You may actually see some of their A400M transporters on the tarmac.
That right, the 15th Wing Air Transport currently operates 7 Airbus A400M Atlas aircraft, amongst others. We said goodbye to the might Herc a couple of years ago. All our C-130’s have now been replaced by brand-spanking-new A400M’s. And this was one of the 1st opportunities the public had to meet those new A400M’s.
The 15th Wing saw actions in the days before the open door. Just before their open door weekend, they aided in the repatriation of Olivier Vandecasteele after his imprisonment in Iran. This A400M of the 15th Wing met Mr. Vandecasteele in Oman and brought him home.
Melsbroek Air Base is also the home of the air support group of the Belgian Police. Since 1997, they are equipped with MD Helicopters (formerly a division of McDonnell Douglas) MD900 Explorer and MD902 Explorer. The MD900 and the MD902 are so called notar helicopters. The aircraft does not have a tail rotor but instead uses the airflow from the engines’ exhaust to stabalize the aircraft.
Belgian Police uses their helicopters for al sorts of activities ranging form surveillance over transporting their special forces to assisting the fire department with water drops. It was very spectacular to see them demonstrate how the aircraft is used to drop the special forces and their attack dog to arrest suspected criminals.
In the week after the open door weekend, an MD902 of the Federal Police assisted the fire departments to put out a fire at the Hoge Venen National Park.
I took all these photos on Sunday, May 28, 2023 at the open door of the 15th Wing Air Transport.
I stumbled on a tweet from the Royal Dutch Air Force announcing exercise Falcon Autumn. It’s an exercise to train airborne operations that was held from October 31 until November 18. Helicopter units from the Netherlands, Poland and the U.S.A. were to train deployment of infantry units. The helicopters would be based on the Luitenant-General Bestkazerne, aka Air Base De Peel.
The US was represented by the US Army’s 12th Combat Aviation Brigade. They dispatched Chinook and Apache helicopters. And above all–at least to me–Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. I had the Black Hawk high on my list of aircraft I wanted to see in real life. So, I did so research and hoped in my car to try to find Black Hawk helicopters.
I was actually just in time to see the last flight of the 12th CAB Black Hawks leave the base. Not the best of photos, but I did get to see Black Hawks. Mission accomplished. At least in part.
I did get a couple of good shots from the Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters from the 12th CAB lifting off. Watching 5 or so Chinooks take to the air at the same time, is quite impressive.
The Axalp Fliegerschiessen Airshow is set in the Swiss Alps. It is basically an air show where F/A-18 Hornets of the Swiss Air Force fly live firing exercises. I saw quite some photos from the show the last few years. I thought it would be a good idea to attend the show.
But… What was I thinking? I must have been nuts when I came up with that idea! The climb to the top of the mountain is hard. Still recovering from a virus infection, my best buddy and I did not make it to the top. But we made it up high enough to shoot some good pics.
There was a special guest at this year’s airshow. The Italian Air Force sent 2 of their F-35’s for a short demo. They came in on the wings of a 4-ship of Swiss Hornets. All excited, I exclaimed: “Are those F-35’s? Yes, they are!” But the real exciting part was to get buzzed by one of the F-35’s. I was lucky to capture it with afterburners as it came through the valley at high speed.
An airshow in Switzerland would be complete without a demo of Patrouille Suisse of course. I’ve seen their show so many time at one of the Sanicole airshows over the years. Seeing them perform their show against the backdrop of the Swiss Alps is quite special.
The US Air Force F-35 demo and the Belgian Air Force F-16 demo were the highlights of the Sanicole Airshow weekend for me. But there was so much more to see. So here is the rest of my photos from that weekend.
The Swiss Hornet demonstration is always nice to see. And it was quite spectacular this year because there was so much humidity in the air. At one point captain Yannick ‘Fönsi’ Zanata was almost able to hide his F/A-18 in its own vapor cloud.
It was also nice to see Redbull’s shiny North American B-25 Mitchell. I had never seen that bird before. And not to forget: after a long time our friends of the Turkish Air Force paid Sanicole a visit again with the demonstration team The Turkish Stars.
There were quite a few helicopters there. Both flying and in the static display. The Royal Dutch Air Force sent an Apache helicopter. And there was even a Bell UH-1 “Huey” in the static display. I found that really cool.
The truth to be told: I shot some of these photos at Kleine-Brogel Airbase during the spottersday, the day before the actual Sanicole airshow.
You can always count on a strong presence of the Belgian Air Force at Sanicole airshow. The show is heavily and brilliantly supported by the men and women of Kleine-Brogel airbase. And pretty much every squadron of the BAF sent a representative to the show.
There is the star of the Belgian Air Force: our F-16 Solo Display. Vrieske and his Dream Viper got plenty of attention in a previous blog post.
But there were so much more demonstrations of the Belgian Air Force. Starting with the newest addition: the Airbus A400M Atlas of the 15th Wing Air Transport.
The home team has something to add to the airshow too. KeeBee’s 31SQN displayed their Thunder Tigers. And they few escort for the Ait Belgium Airbus A330 on one of its passes.
The 40th squadron, still based at Koksijde airbase, displayed the SAR capabilities of their NH-90FN. 40SQN is probably the most famous squadron of the Belgian Air Force. Back in the days when they still flew on Seaking they were the star of the hit TV-series Windkracht 10.
They were not the only helicopter demonstration team though. The team of Razzle Blades, flying out of Beauvechain, demonstrated the Augusta A-109.
And they last but to least: the Red Devils. Part of the 1st Wing out of Beauvechain and currently, flying the SIA Marchetti SF260, the Red Devils have been my favorite air force demonstration team since the 1970’s.
Our new Belgian Air Force F-16 demonstration team was one of the highlights of the Sanicole airshow for me. Cdt Steven De Vries–callsign Vrieske–and his team have painted his F-16 in the most amazing livery I’ve seen in years. Honoring the F-16’s nickname Viper, they have turned the F-16 in a bright green snake. I was quite excited to see it for the 1st time at Sanicole and at the spottersday at Kleine-Brogel airbase.
We got treated to a very special demo at the 2022 Sanicole air show. We saw the only presentation of the US Air Force’s F-35 Lightning II demo in Europe for 2022. This 5th generation fighter was demonstrated by Maj. Kirstin “Beo” Wolfe. The F-25 will soon replace the General Dynamics F-16 in the Belgian Air Force.
It was not the 1st time I saw the F-35 in flight. I’ve seen a few fly-by’s from an F-35 from the Italian Air Force and a Dutch F-35 as part of a KLu heritage flight. But it was the 1st time I saw a full demo of an F-35. I was thrilled to see it demoed to us.
The F-35 is a stealth design and that means there’s no room for bombs and missiles under the wings. These weapons are tucked away in 2 bomb bays under the fuselage as seen in the photos above.
And then there is the absolute money shot. I am sure that every photographer that was at the 2022 Sanicole airshow has this shot, but what a shot it is! Afterburners on and one hell of a vapor cloud!
To complete the demonstration, Maj. Wolfe was joined by Tommy Williams and his North American P-51 Mustang. Tommy Williams, a retired US Air Force pilot and a captain for Delta Airlines, flew the beautiful Mustang from the Air Force Heritage Flight Foundation side by side that majestic F-35. It was a beautiful sight for sore eyes for sure.
On the 5th of May, the Dutch celebrate their liberation from Nazi Germany and the end of the 2nd World War in the Netherlands. The day before—May 4th—is Nationale Dodenherdenking (Rememberance of the Death).
As part of this year’s remembrance an Avro Lancaster did a commemorative flight over the Netherlands and some special interest sites in Belgium. The team of Sanicole Airshow secured a visit of this beauty over Sanicole airfield. I was fortunate to witness that.
The AVRO Lancaster is most notability known for their service with No. 617 Squadron RAF, more commonly known as the Dambusters. This particular aircraft—the PA474—is maintained by the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. It is one of only 2 remaining flight worthy Lancasters in the world.
It was a joy to see her flying in the skies over my hometown. Even if it was for just 3 passes. Thank you to the the team at Sanicole Airshow for making this happen.
The NATO Tiger Meet is a yearly tradition. Each year, squadrons from NATO Air Forces that carry a tiger in their emblem get together for exercises and fraternization.
The 1st time I was at a NATO Tiger Meet was in 1985. It was quite memorable. I remember having a lot of fun at the airshow back then.
2021 marked the 60th anniversary of the NATO Tiger Association and the 70th anniversary of the BAF 31SQN; a tiger squadron. Therefor, 31SQN had to honor to host the 2021 Tiger Meet. Even though it was a scaled down version due to COVID, 31SQN created a special paint scheme for the event.
Here’s the 2021 XTM X-Tiger. It is XT-ROAR-DINARY!
Of course, the X-Tiger led the pack of tigers for a final fly-by at the end of the show. That’s the prerogative of the squadron that hosts the Tiger meet.
