OV-10B Bronco Demo Team



Bronco Demo Team was happy to attend the Belgian Air force Days at Kleine-Brogel during the weekend from the 13th of September last year. The demonstrations in the air from several airplanes and helicopters, and the animated expositions from all different crews on the ground, made the whole weekend a very special and memorable experience! With over 100.000 visitors attending, this was one of the bigger events we've been invited to in 2014! As always it was nice catching up with our many Bronco fans and friends!! Talking to aviation enthusiasts and other crew members, making new friends and enjoying the scene is what Bronco Demo Team enjoys most!



A very special moment during the weekend was seeing the venerable Sea King SAR helicopter flying together with it’s replacement; the NH 90. Some of us were even so lucky as to catch one of the last seats in the Sea King to fly along in formation with the new NH90! The organisation teams of the Belgian Air Force and the Sanicole airshow joined forces and the result was a superb show with a great mix of vintage aircraft, fighter jets and not less than nine aerobatic teams! The main goal of the Belgian Air Force Days is recruitment and this was appropriately supported by a demonstration of the capabilities of the Belgian Defence Forces with an impressive “Power Demo”.

One of the two main themes of the airshow was “more than 100 years of military aviation”. For this occasion a Blériot XI was transported by road all the way from Sweden to fly together with a Belgian F-16! It was very impressive to see two aircraft with a very different range of speed doing a display together. Other mixed formation around this theme was a formation of an SV-4 and two Marchetti’s and a formation of an Alpha Jet and a Fouga Magister. The second main theme was “40 years F-16” which brought examples of most of the European F-16 users to Kleine-Brogel. One of the Belgian F-16’s received the paint scheme of a pre-series aircraft to mark this anniversary fittingly. In the air the public got treated to four European F-16 demos: the Hellenic Air Force with “Zeus”, the Turkish Air Force with “Solo Turk”, the Netherlands Air Force’s “Slick” and off course a display by the Belgian Air Force’s “Grat”.

		As the Belgian Air Force is looking for a replacement for the F-16, the presence of the contending potential suppliers was very apparent throughout the show. Boeing showed off a Swiss F/A-18D, Saab a Hungarian JAS 39C “Gripen”, Dassault Aviation a Rafale C both on the ground as in the air and the Eurofighter consortium with an EF2000 in Luftwaffe colours. Lockheed-Martin was also present, alas not with an actual F-35 as the European tour was cancelled due to technical problems, but with an F-35 simulator located in the VIP area.

The organisation did a great job in ensuring participation of the best aerobatic teams. The French national aerobatic team “Patrouille de France”, the Swiss “PC-7 TEAM”, the British “Red Arrows”, the “Jordanian Falcons” and the famous Italian “Frecce Tricolori” all displayed at the Belgian Air Force Days. For the very first time, the United Arab Emirates came to Belgium with their aerobatic team: “Al Fursan” delivering a revered display. Civil teams such as the “Breitling Jet Team” and “The Victors” completed the line up together with the Belgian military aerobatic team “The Red Devils” flying their F260 Marchettis. On Friday the base opened its doors for the aviation enthusiasts and the schools so they could see the arrivals and rehearsals of the aircraft from close by. The weather on Friday was perfect with sun all day long, but sadly during the weekend both days started foggy – a great challenge to the airshow directors. Later on the sun broke through and each day ended - with the display time considerably extended – in a great sunset show! Our special thanks goes to the Belgian Air Force, the Sanicole Airshow Team and the whole organization for making such an unique event happen!