The name “Sanicole” might not ring a bell in the United States, but in the European airshow scene, it has an almost legendary status. This small airfield in Belgium held their 32nd international airshow on July 20. The show has been held each year without any interruption for over three decades.

  Today, it is the sole remaining civilian event in Belgium, and it's a “must attend” event for every airshow pilot in Europe. If they haven't flown Sanicole, their career isn't complete. Eleven nations participated this year in an edition colored by some serious showers and thousands of umbrellas.  But the Sanicole airshow has a very loyal public, and even with the far-from-ideal weather, the attendance went over 30,000, a record number in the event’s history.

  At 12 noon sharp, the show was opened by the Royal Air Force aerobatic team, the Red Arrows. Due to the clouds, they had to abort their normal routine, but the public went wild as they returned for some formation fly-bys with the Belgian F-16. The show was delayed a few times by the weather, but not a single act had to be cancelled, every participant did their best to bring the crowd a flying program.

  On the civilian side, the Italian Pioneer Team made their Belgian airshow debut, as well as the Romanian Icarii Acrobati. Jordan is a longtime participant with the Royal Jordanian Falcons, and Turkey has also sent their most famous pilot, Ali Ozturk, with his extremely smoky Pitts show. The biggest private jet team in the world is the Breitling Jet Team flying seven L-39 jets, and once again they were present in the skies over Belgium.

  The vintage side, our aviation legacy, is also never forgotten here. This edition saw performances by the T-6 Texan, DC-3, and B-25 Mitchell.

  The heavy metal of the European air forces is certainly a guaranteed crowd pleaser and the thunder came this year from the Spanish Air Force with a Mirage F-1, the Czech Air Force with their l-159 and brand new Saab Gripen, the Dutch Air Force with the F-16, the French Air Force’s Mirage 2000, and the Belgian star pilot “Mickey” and his powerful F-16 show.  Even the U.S. Air Force is a regular participant at Sanicole, and that says a lot about the international reputation of the event. Over the small strip of 650 yards, the public was thrilled by a fly-by from the impressive B-1B Lancer.

  Sanicole is also where the European Airshow Council (an organization similar to ICAS in the United States, but for the European and Middle East airshow industry) was born in 1996.

  So Sanicole airfield has a big reputation to uphold and the pressure is still increasing. Next year, they might be heading for their biggest airshow ever. The world-famous military Tiger Meet will take place in September 2009 at the nearby airbase of “KB” (host for all the jets and bigger aircraft who take part in the airshow) and Sanicole airfield will have the honor to present the public the “Tiger” airshow on September 20, 2009.