For the fifth consecutive year I started my pilgrimage on Friday July 9^th towards London, to visit the Flying Legends 2011 airshow during that weekend. Like previous years the participants list for Legends was looking good, with some very rare and exclusive aircraft making their (first) appearance. What more can one say about Legends than it being three hours of absolute “warbird heaven” showcased over an historic airfield? I have visited my fair amount of airshows over the world, and in terms of displays no airshow can even come close. Aircraft take-off and land together, and some are performing their display routine using every inch of the Duxford airspace.

Personal highlights appeared in the shape of the F4U-7 Corsair from Meier Moters, the P-38L-5 Lightning from Red Bull, P-40F Warhawk recently acquired by the Fighter Collection and the French Hawker Sea Fury FB II ripped the air apart. Very surprising act (in a positive way) was for me the duo display by the DC-3 Dakota’s. And the Horseman never let you down, what a tight and awesome display these guys fly.

The P-51 Big Beautiful Doll will be sorely missed over Duxford.

I certainly hope to be there again for my sixth edition of this yaw dropping airshow. And hopefully the mighty P-47 will fly by then with some other newcomers.

Please have a look at the: Gallery Link

During the weekend of 30 & 31 July the 52th FW based at Spangdahlem AFB in Germany held, after several years no ODD’s, a very welcome Open Door Day. As limitations and restrictions during airshows in Germany are still in place, only a couple of fly-by’s and three displays were flown at a high and safe distance. Not the best circumstances for photographing, in combination with the grey overcastted weather and overall grey aircraft. As my personal highlight was present in the shape of the locally based A-10 Thunderbolt, was the trip already worth the long drive.

As the static was set-up in the “American Style”, which means no fences around the aircraft, an excellent opportunity to search for some nice angles and details. Which resulted in some photographs of the F-16D Block 52+ from Poland, the locally based F-16′s and A-10′s and the highly disciplined pre-flight check of both the USAF F-16 West Coast Display Pilot and ground crew.

Anyway, have a look at the: Gallery Link

On Saturday 10 September 2011 the small airfield of Krefeld-Egelsberg, situated between Duisburg and Dusseldorf,  held their annual airshow. No large formation flights or impressive afterburners, instead a small scaled event with a relaxed atmosphere and outstanding photograph opportunities. And succeeded in getting two display teams this year, the Royal Jordanian Falcons and the ”Iacarii Acrobati” from Romania.

Besides these two teams a interesting amount of golden oldies, with for me the MH1521 Broussard and the beautiful Ryan PT-22 “N33GP” build in 1942 as highlights.

With for most of the day the sun behind you, and the very short distance to the grass runway an perfect show to photograph the participating aircraft. An excellent opportunity to “test” with shutter speeds and panning.

For a small photoreport visit the: Gallery Link

Now online the photoreport of the RNLAF open door days held at Leeuwarden in the weekend of 16 & 17 September 2011. This every year returning event succeeds always to gather a amount of highly interesting aircraft. This was also the case for this year, with for example a Mig-29 from Poland, Italian Typhoon and a F-18 Hornet from Finland, all giving away a great air display. With on Friday sunny, and on Saturday overcast and rainy weather, a diverse amount of photographs could be made.

For me the personal highlights flew in the shape of the Mig-29 from Poland, the Hawker Hunter team and the NAS Black Cats both from the UK. The RNLAF AH-64 Apache with the flare “shower” is always a very welcome display. And for me a surprising act was the F-16 Solo from Turkey, however still flown in the shadow of the Belgium F-16 display.

All reviewed another very successful edition of the RNLAF Open Door Days.

Now online, the photo report in the new website style. Gallery Link