2017 Sanicole Air Show

Sanicole Air Show is a staple in my air show season. The Sanicole airfield too close to home to want to miss it. It is a very nicely organized air show, working closely together with the Belgian Air Force base at Kleine-Brogel. That cooperation ensures a big presence of the BAF airplanes at the show.

They usually start off on Friday with a sunset show. And that’s the perfect opportunity to get good shots of the planes shooting of flares. I was very eager to get a good shot of our F-16 demo pilot, Tom De Moortel, call sign Gizmo firing of flares. Gizmo is his last year as a demo pilot on F-16 for the Belgian Air Force.

I was quite successful at getting a picture of Gizmo firing of flares on Friday night. On Sunday, I focused on getting a couple of good close ups of Gizmo’s F-16. And fortunately by the time it was Gizmo’s turn for his display on Sunday, the skies had cleared a bit and there were some specks of blue sky to brighten up Gizmo’s display.

Gizmo is a pilot of 31 tiger sqn flying out of Kleine-Brogel AFB. He had is squadron members drop in for a couple of fly-by’s in close formation too.

The BAF has a little four-ship formation called The Red Devils. They hold a special place in my heart. They’re all homegrown pilots of course. The history of this team dates back to the 1960’s and as a kid I loved watching them when they still flew Fouga Magister CM-170R jet trainers. Today, they fly SIAI Marchetti SF260 planes and I still enjoy watching them.

Next to all those cool displays from our own Belgian Air Force, there were a lot of international display and teams at Sunday’s show. Among them, the Saudi Hawks which I’ve never seen before. Flying the BAE Hawk in beautiful green and white, they put on a solid show.

The last display of Sunday’s show was Patrouille de France. They’re reputation precedes them: they gave an impeccable presentation of their skills and the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet they are flying on.