Koksijde Air Day 2008

Text & pictures : Serge Van Heertum & Marc Arys - S.B.AP. ©

Like every summer, the Belgian Air Component open the doors of the coast base Koksijde. Ones more this was a succesful event with the 30.000 visitors registrated. All aspects of the Air Component were present and moreover the public could see many aviation related booths.

This years the show was axed more on the military operations of the Air Component and the good co-operation with the French Air Force was also demonstrated.

Some old flying machines were showed in the static area and some in flight like the Fouga, the Vampire and the Avia BH-5, which arrived from the Czech Republic on July 29 to commemorate the historical flight made in 1923 between Prague and Brussels (see our article AVIA BH-5 in the events pages).

The well known Royal Jordanian Falcons gave again a splendid demonstration showing the maestria of this team.

Koksijde 2008 was also the last official solo display in Belgium for 2 well known pilots : Cdt Michael "Mickey" Artiges with the F-16 A/M and the Cpt Rallet "Ralloche" from the French Air Force with his Mirage 2000.
"Mickey" is ending it's show after 3 years of realy high level demonstration and the French Air Force decided to put an end to the Mirage 2000 display at the end of this season. So let's hope their solo display will be followed on with the brand new generation fighter : the Rafale.

It was a real great show except for the weather conditions,but the amount of visitors is the proof of the interest for this kind of airshow.

SBAP also  had the unique opportunity to be flying in the Embraer during the interception demonstration of the French Mirage 2000 and would like to thank the staffmembers of COMOPSAIR IPR for their kindness and obligingness.
 

Arrivals	Interception	Belgian Air Component	Last solo displays in Belgium

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