Скачать или смотреть Remember The Belgian F-16 Solo Display Team 1979-2023 4K

Remember The Belgian F-16 Solo Display Team 1979-2023 4K
History:
The Belgian ´F-16 Solo Display´Team was established already in 1979, the year the first Vipers entered operational service in Belgium. The first aircraft – F-16B Block 1, FB-01 – was completed in December of 1978 by SABCA and then acquired by the Belgian Air Force in January of the next year.
Yet in the same year, the Belgian F-16 Fighting Falcon was shown to general public through the display team.
Its first demo pilot was Major Jozef ´Jef´ De Heyn, the future commander of the Kleine-Brogel air base, and the Belgian defence attaché in the United States of America. De Heyn concluded his career with the BAF in the rank of Brigade General and, regrettably, passed away in 2014.
A total number of nineteen display pilots flew the displays during forty-four years of the team´s history.
Each of them pushed the Viper to its performance limits and soon the Belgian F-16 display became widely loved by aviation fans all over Europe.
Since the 1990s, the three-year rotation was established within the team. It meant that every three years, a different squadron of the BAF had to assign the pilot, the aircraft and the maintenance team to perform the display within the next three seasons.
The only exception from that three-year rotation rule was caused by coronavirus outbreak and cancellation of most of the air shows that followed. Therefore, Senior Captain Stefan ´Vador´ Darte, flying the ´Dark Falcon”, was the official Belgian F-16 display pilot from 2018 to 2021.
In 2022, the relay baton was taken over by Captain Steven ´Vrieske´ De Vries (and his ´Dream Viper´), who – according to aforementioned rule – was expected to fly until the end of 2024 aviation season but his display in Avord 30-09 & 01-10- 2023 was his final displayweekend .

complete list of the Belgian ´F-16 Solo Display´ pilots
Jozef ´Jef´ DeHeyn, 1979-1981
Jean-Marie´Toutou´Toussaint, 1982-1983
Marc´Mark´Anthony, 1984-1987
Daniel´Danny´Faye, 1987
Erwin De Decker, 1988-1990
Nathan´Langste´De Permentier, 1988-1992
Marc´Jozef´Bongartz, 1993
Jean-Jacques´Bwana´De Wael, 1993-1997
Rudy-Theys, 1994-1996
Danny´Ket´Meersman, 1998-2001
Rudy´Chouke´Schoukens, 2000-2002
Michael´Puke´Koos, 2003
John-Vandebosch, 2003-2005
Michael´Micky´Artiges, 2006-2008
Michel´Mitch´Beulen, 2009-2011
Renaud´Grat´Thys, 2012-2014
Tom´Gizmo´DeMoortel, 2015-2017
Stefan´Vador´Darte, 2018-2021
Steven ´Vrieske´ De Vries, 2022–2023