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YES, WE GOT IT!!! We really got it, for a dedicated photomission lasting 24 minutes! As soon as it was announced that the Ukrainian Su-27 would perform at our ‘home’ airshow, the major challenge started to get the permission for a photo join-up. Not a very quick thing after rehearsal, but a real well prepared photomission to show the photographers onboard the beauty of this rare beast. But of course that was not all Sanicole had to offer, after all this ‘little’ world famous airshow in Belgium became quite ‘big’ in recent years, and attracts now visitors from all over the world to enjoy a truly varied and amazing airshow program. Thanks to the entire Sanicole and KB team, we had the chance again to enjoy our own private airshows in the skies over Belgium.





		We started on the Wednesday already, with a bit of a classic as the F-16s on already planned missions came to say hello. This time we got lucky again to see the three special tails together! From Thursday onwards the airshow participants started to arrive, and the easiest way to round up that collection is….they all said ‘yes’ to a photo join-up.




Every join up is again a highlight for us, as this is the only time of the airshow season we fly the Skyvan photoship in Belgium and for the Sanicole airshow, were the Aviation PhotoCrew originated. Throughout the 3 projects that we had during the Sanicole week ( the big one with the arrivals and rehearsals, our last ever airshow day and departure day ), the photographers were treated with all kinds of weather and an incredible range of helicopters , airshow aircraft and jets. For the warbird enthusiast we had the T-6 Texan, Hurricane and epic 2-ship of the Spitfire and Mustang.



Not only airshow participants enjoy it to fly with us, but equally traditional are some of the local gems that came in the shape of the T-28, Lockheed L-12 Elektra and Staggerwing this year.




The long awaited Danish C-130 did make it to Belgium in the end, and saved some flares for us! For the first time the Croatian Wings of Storm participated in Sanicole, so it was nice to see them again after our Zeltweg project, and we got their unique Mi-171 helicopter as well.



More helipower was there on Monday with the German NH-90 and EC-135, and the new demo from the French Army flying the Caliope. That ‘other’ helicopter, the OV-22 Osprey was one of the highlights as it stayed with the Skyvan photoship for 20 minutes….during sunset!!





Of course an airshow is also about teams, big and small, and so we got an opportunity to see the Victors, Jordanian Falcons, Team Raven and probably the last ever photo join-up of the Breitling Jet Team. More fun behind and beside the Skyvan photoship was planned for the Extra 330 and Austrian PC-7.








A dedicated paragraph must go again to the KB based 4-ship of 31 Sqn, the incredible Thunder Tigers. We’ve had them join-up each year for the last decade, and although they are just so good, it seems they are still getting more impressive with every new join-up. This time they stayed with us for almost 30 minutes, and the 4 jets showed every possible angle that an F-16 can show you, both as solos and as an immaculate 4-ship formation. Traditionally the lead aircraft is the F-16 with the Tiger tail….can’t wait for the next occasion.




More jets during the Sanicole week came in the shape of the French Alpha Jets, Swedish Tunnan, German Eurofighter, Norwegian F-16s, our friends from Greece with the Zeus F-16, D-Day adorned Belgian F-16s and of course our own Belgian demo pilot Vador with his Dark Falcon….that was a lot of burners and flares in just a few days!














Of course we end with that blue camouflaged highlight that was one of the best moments we had in the 2019 photoflight season. We would like to say a big thank you to our German friend Alex for guiding us through the long diplomatic way that gave us 24!! memorable minutes with a jet that is for sure on every photographers wish list, the giant Sukhoi Su-27. The photomission came with a lot of expected and unexpected challenges, but once again it was proven that a well prepared briefing and personal meeting with the KB ATC team, airshow director & Sanicole team, and the Ukrainian pilots and our Skyvan pilot Phillip resulted in an absolutely fantastic photomission. We would love to do that again in 2020!!!



And why don’t you join us? It is very easy to take spectacular air to air photos like you see in the reports here, just send a short email to and we will provide you with all the information.