The Belgium Air Force 1st Wing at Beauvechain hosted a (ETM) European Trainers Meeting to celebrate 25 years of their Alpha Jets in service with the (Belgische Luchtmacht) and its 2004 newly qualified pilots. The event was held on Tuesday the 29th of June 2004.
The list of invited aircraft was undoubtedly looking to impress, but as usual, there would be some no-shows. These included the SU-22, Mig 21 and the Hellenic Air Force TA-7C.
The real highlight was the arrival of the two Northrop SF-5Bs from Ala23 at Talavera in Spain, which had just received their mid-life updates and a very photogenic Alpha Jet coming from 11 Smaldeel (Belgische Luchtmacht), with its anniversary low-visibility unique paint scheme. The Irish Air Corps (Aer Chór an hÉireann) PC-9 from the FTS was a surprise as it had only been delivered briefly. The French Air Force Mirage F1B (520/33-FD) looked fabulous as it taxied from the runway in full sunshine adorned with its 60th Anniversary of D-Day unique markings. That had been applied to celebrate that anniversary back in May 2004.
Before I waffle more, let us look at the event's photographs.
AE.9-029/23-18 and AE.9-018/23-26 SF-5Bs EdA from ALA 23 at Badajoz/Talavera la Real.
As they arrived overhead for the break, you could hear the excitement from the photographers in seeing these rarely seen jets outside of Spain.
6037 L-159 (ARCA) 32zTL Czech Air Force.
The Belgium Air Force had a team of six Alpha Jets display during the day. Overall, this was another great day out, and the weather was great.