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Sanicole airshow & western Europe spotting

Posted: 07 Oct 2024, 15:11
by shaggy22
In late September I was lucky enough to be able to visit the Sanicole airshow in western Belgium & do some spotting in the local area as well in the following week. Given my previous experiences with Belgium the country had some redemption to do in my eyes & whilst it started badly, getting stuck in a huge traffic jam outside of Liege, Belgium soon redeemed herself with the Sanicole show. For those who don't know it's a 2 day event, sort of, with the first day being a sunset show & the next day a full full. We did both & were treated to some outstanding flying & a nice static as well especially given how small the Sanicole area is, highlight being the Swedes in both the flying & static with them sending 2 Hkp.16's (UH-60), 1 for the flying display, & a stunning Hkp.15 (A-109) on static.

Sunset show
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ImageB-17 Sally B by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

2.
ImageUSAF F-16 Viper demo by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageSwedish Hkp.16 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageFrench Rafale by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageDanish F-16 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageDanish F-16 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImagePatrouille Suisse by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

Full show day
The light was particularly tricky at times as whilst the sun did shine in the morning it's straight onto your face. It did cloud over which is preferable but it did get quite dark at times as you'll see. It was high level cloud mostly so everything did their full show.

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ImageSwedish Hkp.15 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageLockheed Model 12 Electra by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageHeliDax EC120 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageBelgian NH90 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageKluHF Spitfire by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageBelgian F-16 & B-17 Sally B by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageDanish F-16 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageBelgian A400M by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageBelgian Thunder Tigers by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageGerman EF-2000 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageSolo Turk by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageLes Diables Rouges by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageFinnish F/A-18 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageFouga Magister by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageUSAF F-16 Viper demo by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageSwedish Hkp.16 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRAF Typhoon by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

You can't really tell from this but this was a formation of Belgian, Turkish, Danish & 2 Portuguese F-16's.
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ImageF-16 tribute by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageBelgian F-16 + Spitfire by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

The day after the Sanicole show we drove up to Kleine-Brogel to catch the morning departures:

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ImageUSAF F-16 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageHeliDax EC120 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageAustrian PC-7 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImagePatrouille Suisse by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageBelgian NH90 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageFrench Rafale by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageT-6 Texan by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImagePortuguese F-16 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

We then decided to spend the rest of the day at Beauvechain mainly as it was almost certainly the last time I'd see the SF.260 in it's active role with the Belgian Air Component.

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ImageBelgian A109 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageBelgian A109 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageBelgian SF.260 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageBelgian SF.260 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageBelgian SF.260 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

The next day we planned to visit the air bases in the Southern part of the Netherlands, however the curse of Belgium struck again when our rental car decided to have a flat tyre. So after that was eventually sorted the only real place we could spend the afternoon was a Brussels Airport. Some interesting weather there for sure & I won't sully this thread with civvies but the Police MD902 is nice enough to warrant a picture of I reckon. If you do want to look at the civvies they're on my Facebook page, link at the bottom:

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ImageBelgian Police MD902 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

We did do the Dutch bases the next day, annoyingly the day before was the penultimate flight of the RNLAF F-16 & the final flights on the Friday after. Typical. We started at Gilze-Rijen:

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ImageRNLAF Cougar by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF CH47 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF Cougar & Chinook by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF AH-64 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF Cougar by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF AH-64 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

We finished the day at Volkel

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ImageRNLAF F-35 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF F-35 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF F-35 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF F-35 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF F-35 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

The next day we went back the Netherlands to Eindhoven to catch the mil action there, it didn't disappoint even if it was very blustery & cold.

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ImageRNLAF C-130 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF C-130 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF A330 MRTT by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF C-130 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF C-130 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF C-130 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF C-130 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF A330 MRTT by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF C-130 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF C-130 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF Gulfstream VI by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF Gulfstream VI by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

The plan then was to do Norvenich is Western Germany as they were on nights, however it turned out they didn't fly at all & the only thing we saw was this German BK117 (H145) returning to base.

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ImageGerman BK117 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

The last day before we flew back was spent at Cologne airport hoping to catch some of the German VIP fleet, again we got lucky with what we saw but high winds curtailed the day up on the terrace sadly.

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ImageGerman A321neo by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageGerman A350 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF A330 MRTT by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageRNLAF A330 MRTT by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageUPS 747-8 & German Global Express by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

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ImageGerman A319 & A321 by Dan Reeves, on Flickr

Thanks for getting this far, I hope you enjoyed looking at them as much as I enjoyed taking them. If for some reason you want to see more, a lot more as it goes, they're on my Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/DanReevesAviography

Re: Sanicole airshow & western Europe spotting

Posted: 07 Oct 2024, 23:09
by pslinger
I always enjoy your work, thanks for posting.

Re: Sanicole airshow & western Europe spotting

Posted: 07 Oct 2024, 23:23
by Jim
Always enjoy your 'work' Dan, thanks!
Love the Electra. I think it's time I retired to CalClassics :D

Re: Sanicole airshow & western Europe spotting

Posted: 08 Oct 2024, 14:15
by John Young
Thanks Dan. The Fouga Magister in Diable Rouges colours brought back happy memories of attending air shows here in the UK in the early 1970s.

John