The Aviation Days that were held at Florennes and Cerfontaine in June of 2018. Although it was intended as a 'local' event, many spotters from the rest of the country made the trip to the south of Belgium in an attempt to score some nice aircraft.
In the morning the 'place to be' was Florennes airbase, home of the 2nd Tactical Wing of the Belgian Air Force. On site a number of static displays were present putting the local units in the picture. First was off course a General Dynamics F16AM Fighting Falcon surrounded with the various pieces of armament it can use during its missions. It was good to see what types of 'smart' bombs were deployed during the recent deployments of our F16s, and surely the era of dumb bombs are long gone.
Next to the F16 display the 80th UAV Squadron showed one of its B-Hunter Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
Another 'unit' that uses Florennes for its flying activities are the Belgian Air Cadets. This youth organization is greatly supported by the Belgian Air Force and annual organizes a number of flying camps where young people are taught to fly glider aircraft. Many of these later pursue a military flying career, so when your ambition is to join the air force, join the Air Cadets first!
For the towing of the gliders the Air Cadets also have a small number of Piper L21B Super Cubs, and one of these could be found on the flightline.
The flying program of the Aviation Days at Florennes was composed completely of Belgian military displays. Star attraction was off course the 'Belgian Air Force F16 Solo Display' flown by Cdt.av. Stefan 'Vador' Darte, who is a member of 2nd Wings No 1 'Stinger' Squadron.
From 2018 onwards 'Vador' will display the Belgian Air Force F16AM at various air shows in Europe, and the Aviation Days was the first opportunity to see him in action in Belgium.
Second display of the day were the Belgian 'Red Devils' who again gave a very nice show in their Siai-Marchetti SF260M training aircraft....
Missing from the program was the Agusta A109 Display as they were already in action somewhere abroad, but this didn't mean no A109 was in the air. A109 H24, still wearing the 'old' display colors was on hand and dropped a number of parachutists from the Belgian Paracommandos trailing the flags of Belgium, Belgian Defense and their unit the Training Center Para at Schaffen near Diest.
