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Remember my earlier post called Meet Me In The City? Well, Shannety and I shot another set that day. A little bit more my style, a little more edgy but still with the same class that only Shannety can bring. A bit of latex, a bit of vanilla clothes and a lot of fun… All we needed to make this series work.
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.
Joke proved that you can combine latex with just about any other fabric. That black shiny latex top and the tight corset she wore of her jeans were just the perfect combo.
After she wiggled out of her jeans, the fun really started. Joke put on a pair of ballet heels and she continued the shoot as if she wears ballet heels daily.
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.
Baywatch was one of the most popular television series in the 1990’s. The 1st 9 seasons were set on the beaches of Los Angeles County. For the last 2 seasons, they moved the set to Hawai’i. The iconic red bathing suits of the lifeguards turned to yellow suits. Just like the one Daria was wearing for this photo shoot.
I bought the outfit eons ago at an online charity event. The outfit was worn on the set of Baywatch Hawai’i by Brooke Burns who played the character of Jessie Owens. I’ve always wanted to do a photo shoot with it. So, here it goes…
I came up with the crazy idea to visit the Axalp Fliegerschiessen Airahow in the Swiss Alps this year. Plans were made, hotels were booked, cameras were prepped and my best friend and I went on our way.
We made 2 stops on the way to Axalp. 1st at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart and secondly at Legoland.
Let’s start with an impression of the Mercedes-Benz Museum in a couple of photos.
btw: I shot all these photos on my Canon Powershot G7X mkIII. I am quite impressed with the results!
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.
Daria loooooooooves sparkles! She loves’em so much, she’ll grab any opportunity to wear something sparkly on our photoshoots. So, it was obvious that Daria wanted to wear these rhinestone cowboy boots when I showed them to her. I knew that I had a silver grey latex skirt that would work well with the boots. I went on a scavenger hunt for a white cowboy hat. And when I found it, I added rhinestones to the had too. Before you know it, we had an outfit that matches Daria’s beauty.
