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Europe & Cold War Database
In 2005, the 10 Wing of Belgian Air Force/Air Component held another spotters-day, meanwhile known for attracting an interesting mix of military aircraft from various European airforces. And 2005 proved to be no exception. The spottersday was held in combination with an Operational Integration exercise, so that many visitors did participate in training flights for that exercise. .
A very strong French participation was noticeable with Mirage 2000D from EC02.003 “Champagne” and EC01.003 “Navarre”, Mirage 2000C from EC01.012 “Cambresis”, Mirage 2000N from EC02.004, Mirage F1.CR from ER01.033 “Belfrot”, EMB-312F from DV15.300 (including one in “tiger”-colours), EAC 00.314 Alpha Jets (also including one in “tiger”-colors). The French Naval Aviation was also an active participant, sending Super Entendards from 11F and 17F, as well as two Rafale Ms from 12F. All were flying during the day.
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| French Navy Rafale M 002 from 12F ready for taxi. (All photos by Stefan Kuhn) |
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| French Navy Super Entendard from 17F. |
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| EMB312F from DV15.300 with "tiger"-colours. |
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| French Mirage F.1CR of the ER.01.033 Belfort. |
However, the French were not the only ones to send some interesting aircraft. Another very welcome participation were two Greek Air Force (EPA) A-7s from 335 Mira. This type has become rare today and it was a very pleasant sight to see those old planes still flying.
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| An A-7E and an A-7H from 335 Mira taking off for a training mission. |
The Polish Air Force has sent a Sukhoi Su-22M3-K from 6.elt which was wearing a splendid tiger scheme. Additional “Eastern Block” hardware was present in form of four Romanian Air Force MiG-21 Lancers. All perfectly parked on a separate part of the ramp and giving the feeling of being on a WarPact airfield during the Cold War.
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| "Tiger"-painted SU-22M3-K of the Polish airforce 6.elt. |
The RAF was a particularly interesting participant: apart from two Hawk T.Mk.1s from No.208 Sqn a Canberra PR.Mk.9 from 39 Sqn. visited for the day. With the plane so close to retirement it was probably one of the last public appearances in continental Europe.
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| Canberra PR.Mk.9 from 31 Sqn. arriving at Kleine Brogel airbase. |
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| Navigator-station in Canberra's nose. |
Not to be outdone were various F-16s. The Belgian Air Force deployed many Fighting Falcons with special colour schemes, including the “tiger”-painted example of the resident 31 Sqn. also a special coloured bird to celebrate 60 years of Kleine Brogel airbase, as well as a specially-painted F-16 with tail markings for Link 16 integration tests. An F-16 AM from 326 Esk of the Royal Danish Airforce was spotting a read tail fin. The BAF did fly the full F-16 display routine including “smokewinders” on wingtip stations, which is always an interesting sight.
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| No.31 Sqn F-16 in Tiger colors. |
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| 326 Esk F-16 of the Royal Danish Airforce. |
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| F-16 display of the BAF airforce. |
Another impressive display was made by the Fouga Magisters of No.7 Sqn BAF, which showed one of the lowest level passes seen on any European air-show circuit.
The German Airforce was represented by Tornado IDS’ from JaboG.31, JaboG.33 and AG51, as well as a single F-4F from Fluglehrzentrum F-4 at Rheine Hopsten - another unit which definitely did participate for the last time, as it will close operations in December 2005.
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| Polish CASA CN.235 transport. |
Last but not least, there were four Swiss F-18s and the Czech Airforce L-159As and the usual participation of the Royal Netherlands Air Force, including Fokker 60UT, AH-64D and AS532 Cougar. Very much trying to entertain the crowds were two C-130Hs from 20 Sqn. that made numerous touch and goes.
All in all it was a very interesting day and one can only hope that the organizators are going to continue to do such a good job .
© Copyright 2002-3 by ACIG.org
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