Photoflying Days 2012, 15 - 19 august, Belgium

[Aviation PhotoCrew]

hello Scramble friends,

I would like to introduce you to the brand new website of the Photoflying Days. As the airfield of Malle is very close to the Dutch border, the event might be of interest to you.

We focus on the historic side of aviation, and as we celebrate our little 3rd anniversary we have quiet a line up this year.

Headline will be the inconic Breitling Super Constellation, a first visit of a Super Connie to Belgium in 37 years!
And a lot of classics like the Avenger, Corsair, Mustang, Spitfire, Skyraider, DC-3, Catalina, S-38 etc

And for the spotterfriends, we have set up on friday and saturday evening 'blue hour' and nightshoots with most of the warbirds, also with historic re enactors.

All information is available at http://www.photoflyingdays.com


hope to see you in august, Eric

[Aviation PhotoCrew]

for all the Dutch aviation enthousiasts who are very fond of events like Duxford, Hahnweide or La Ferté Alais;

an update in what our line up will look like:

- the Breitling Super Constellation is still scheduled to be with us, as one of the very few visits outside Switzerland in 2012. If all goes well she should fly again in the first week of august, making her definately thé big star of the event.
- other big historic aircraft include the Sikorsky S-38 'Osa's Ark ( with a lot more than just two flypasts ), the Catalina and DC-3.
- the fighterbird line up will certainly please you : hopefully the premiere of the 'Bagdad' Fury, P-51 Mustang, Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane, P-38 Lightning, Grumman Avenger ( in RAF colours ), Grumman Avenger ( in new US markings ), Skyraider.

And of course a few more surprises in the pipeline
The Belgian airfield of Malle is located in a protected nature parc, so lots of green surroundings and no hangars or any other building: so great if you like photography. Everybody welcome !

greetz, Eric

www.photoflyingdays.com

[EHAM]

Is the Catalina supposed to be the PH-PBY or another one? According to their website (http://www.catalina-pby.nl/Vliegen-met- ... nder-2012/) it's highly questionable that the PH-PBY will be fixed before this event.

[Aviation PhotoCrew]

Joost,

according to Gerrit of the flight Operations, we can still have very good hopes that the Dutch Catalina will fly in time. We could/should become the first event she flies to in many years, so definately something to look forward too if it all works out

So yes, it is the Dutch Catalina PH-PBY with us.

greetz, Eric

[Antoine]

The Super Constellation is cancelled !!

[BlackBird]

Unfortunately the Dutch Catalina can't make it either. I spoke to one of the crewmembers last friday and he told me that the Catalina will make her testflight today but that it would be to early to visit the Photoflying Days.

Sorry to disappoint you all.

[Key]

Opinion posts on admission fees and related posts have been archived. Stick to 'what will be on show and how/when' here, please.

Erik

[Stratofreighter]

The Super Constellation is cancelled !!

The Breitling Dakota is coming instead.

Some aircraft and their landing timeslots can be found at
http://www.ebzr.be/FlyIn/RegisteredPlanes.aspx
And yes, that includes some warbirds and other "classics".

[Propwash]

Opinion posts on admission fees and related posts have been archived. Stick to 'what will be on show and how/when' here, please.

Erik

As Zoersel ain't NO Airshow (ask the Belgium CAA), you rather be delete/archive the whole "Photoflying Days 2012, 15 - 19 august, Belgium" topic

[Key]

Yeah, yeah, very smart. But 'on show' = 'there to look at' and this is still the right forum for this topic.

By 5pm yesterday the following were present (order of the website):

2x Avenger, 1x Chipmunk, Beech 18, S-38 replica, Yak-18, Spitfire, 1x SV-4B, DH-84, Hurricane, 1x FW149, Bulldog, several PA-18, T-6, Stinson, Yak-52, T-28, P-51, 2x SF260
plus Pilatus P3, F4U, YC-43 Staggerwing, the Skyvan, Bell 206
and a lot of other light planes and helos of course. Finally, an F-16 I forgot to walk the 100m detour for, could've been a mock-up.

Btn 12:00LT and 17:00LT, one Skyvan photoflight was made with several subjects, and more with a mix of aircraft including the S-38 and DH-84. By 17:00LT the latter had not returned yet; back to Antwerp perhaps? At 14:30LT the 31sq & 349sq special colour F-16s made several passes in formation, and a 3rd bunzing seemed to be practising a demo overhead, with the deck above 5000ft.

Light conditions for photographers in the general public are unfavourable most of the time, including the runway being up-sun and >250m from the crowd line. Not to say I did not enjoy, just info. I heard the F4U Corsair is a replacement for the P-38 that is unable to come. More aircraft due today of course.

Erik

[Belgianboy]

Between 1730 and 1800 a few more aircraft landed:

Pitts S2B, Chipmunk and Bellanca.

Willy

[EHAM]

On Saturday the 18th I spent a nice sunny day at Zoersel. Before the log some general comments.
I visited the event last year as well and this year's set-up was more or less the same. However, there were slightly less aircraft, less photo flights and a lot less people. Last mentioned was probably due to the fact that there was an entrance fee of 10 euros p.p. (a fair price in my opinion). Last year entrance was free.
I did not participate in the 'spotters package' and that turned out to be a good decision in my view. The package offered slightly better opportunities, including night photoshoots and standing on the other side of the runway, but from the stories I heard it was not really worth 40 euros extra (at least in my opinion).
Security was more strict than last year, with one security member behaving quite childish/immaturely.
Food, drinks and toilets were located across the airfield, which was good. Only downside was that you had to buy coins in sets of 5 ( = 10 euros), while some price lists also stated that you could buy single coins for 2 euros. Not to mention that a mini bottle of 0,25 liter Coca Cola was one coin and thus 2 euros! Next time I'll bring some more drinks myself...
To conclude with a positive note, the shuttle service to/from the parking lot was probably appreciated by a lot of people, especially with this heat.
Anyway, here's a quick log of this Saturday. Didn't note most of the small GA stuff.
no mks F-16 Belgian AF
ST-19 SF-260 Belgian AF
D-ECQA PA-18
D-HHTM A109
F-AZHG/A-805 P3
F-AZJA Avenger
F-AZJV/1375 Chipmunk
G-AOJR Chipmunk
G-BARS/1377 Chipmunk
G-BEOL Skyvan (photoflights)
G-CBSS Yak-52
G-HURI/Z5140/HA-C Hurricane (left in the afternoon)
G-JPVA/XW289/73 Jet Provost (high crossing for photoflight in the evening)
G-MGMM PA-18
G-MKVB/BM597/JH-C Spitfire (left in the afternoon)
HB-IRJ DC-3 Breitling (arrived in the morning, no flights on Saturday, only on Sunday)
HB-RDG/53319 Avenger
N2XR PA-34
N13FY/16544/FY AT-6 (photoflights)
N45CF Beech 18
N343NA/138343/212 Trojan
N1943S/FB735 Stinson
N3458V/07159 Ce195
NX377WW/137777/KV-863 Trojan
OE-EAS/RB Corsair Red Bull
OO-CHE R44
OO-IAK Yak-18
OO-KMN R44
OO-LGB/OL-L49 PA-18
OO-MAP Ce404
OO-MNM PA-18
OO-MTM R44 (pleasure flights)
OO-SAB PA-23
OO-SLQ R44
OO-VBA Bell 206
OO-VMH/90+16 P149
PH-GRB/E-20 Fokker S.11 Fokker Four
PH-PBA DC-3 DDA (pleasure flights)
PH-VDF/472922/L2-W P-51D Mustang

[Key]

Thanks Joost, also for a balanced opinion on prices (unlike the previous time the theme was brought up in this topic...). it does say on the organisers' website that buying food & drink = sponsoring the attending planes. The beer 'n burger were priced to my liking for an event.
That said, I too feel the overall entry fees for the different options are a bit high when comparing the possibilities they create with other events.
In the end though, anyone can be informed beforehand and decide whether to pay or not. On the Friday, I had no security at all - did not even actually note those people.

Erik