Recommeneded European Airshows ?

[captainfurious]

Hi there,

I'm lucky enough to have an annual visit to RIAT each year but was thinking of combining a European City break with an airshow. Can anyone recommened a good european show to visit? I would ideally like to see lots of Russian Hardware but visas to Russia can be a pain so anyone been to a good show in Eastern Europe.

Cheers

Rich

[DeanW]

Not all the dates for next years big European shows are out yet. If you want Eastern European hardware, your best bet would probably be somewhere like Kecskemet, which was in August this year or even CIAF in Brno, although this years lineup is quite weak compared to previous shows. Not quite Eastern European, but Zeltweg 2009 could be a good show, judging by the participation it had in '05 and '03.
Or even one of the smaller shows in Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia etc. might be worth a shout as they've had some interesting participation in recent years, although these shows aren't built up very much on forums etc.

[Chrisse]

Zeltweg could be a possibility, but bear in mind that Russian hardware is getting very rare. Just look at the list of Brno to see the absence of anything called 'Mig' and it's not a stretch to imagine a Zeltweg show without anything of the kind. As a sidenote: Sanicole announced over at Airshows.be that Zeltweg will be held on June 20-21, the same weekend as Le Bourget (FR), Volkel (NL) and Kemble.

Perhaps like J35Draken said, a small show in Croatia or so could be your gig? Best chance maybe to see a Mig-21 display? Otherwise, Pratica di Mare, if you can cope with the backlighting, not too far from Rome and it generally puts on a good show.

[bazsi]

I suggest Radom (Poland). It's planned for 29-30 August 2009 and you can count with the Polish MiG-29 and Su-22.

[rdchawk]

Airpower in Zeltweg, If its going ahead next year, or the Dutch Open day is normally a good show to go to.

[st24]

[quote="Chrisse"]Sanicole announced over at Airshows.be that Zeltweg will be held on June 20-21, the same weekend as Le Bourget (FR), Volkel (NL) and Kemble. quote]

Oh for goodness sake - here we go again!....

[rdchawk]

Sanicole announced over at Airshows.be that Zeltweg will be held on June 20-21, the same weekend as Le Bourget (FR), Volkel (NL) and Kemble. quote]

Oh for goodness sake - here we go again!....

There goes my plan for Zeltweg then, as I'll be at Kemble having fun down there.

[DeanW]

Sanicole announced over at Airshows.be that Zeltweg will be held on June 20-21, the same weekend as Le Bourget (FR), Volkel (NL) and Kemble.

Oh for goodness sake - here we go again!....

It's annoying isn't it, shame Kemble can't be a weekend earlier as I don't think it'd clash with anything big in Europe. At least Biggin only has the Reims airshow clash and Waddington, amazingly, clashes with nothing!

[Chrisse]

Don't count on Waddington clashing with nothing, the Belgian air component will most likely hold Coxyde that weekend

As for the weekend of June 14, I suspect the Danish show to be scheduled there, but that's just a guess, plus perhaps a French air force show.

[lightningf6]

If you're after a smaller eastern european show, don't overlook the National Aviation Days at Piestany in Slovakia. I went last year (2007) and really enjoyed the event. It was quite low key and lacking in foreign participation, but none the worse for that. There were some pretty good items from the Slovak Air Force, the Mil-8 demo's were very unusual, it's not often you get one hovering over the crowd!!! The co-located museum is well worth a visit on it's own, and Piestany is quite close to Bratislava for flights from several points in the UK with everyones favourite Irish airline! The show for next year (2009) is scheduled for 13/14 June.

[Hunter_f6]

go for Radom (Poland) next year should be last wekend in August. Migs, Sukhoi's etc etc. Public transport a piece of cake from railway station...

[bazsi]

Edited:
Kecskemet Airshow is postponed to 2010. August 7-8. http://www.repulonap.hu/airshow/

[PeterR]

Anyone going to Vokel this june?

[capercaillie]

Anyone going to Vokel this june?

Where?

Don't think anyone will be going there.

[Quid59]

Anyone going to Vokel this june?

next june you meant!!

[Chrisse]

An Austrian newspaper reported on October 7 that Zeltweg will likely change date to June 26-27 to avoid the clash with Le Bourget (a big airshow in France), a bit of a strange choice given that they'll clash with Reims now, perhaps more direct competition for the acts they're trying to attract?
http://www.kleinezeitung.at/steiermark/ ... 4/index.do

[Chrisse]

Coxyde airshow (4-5 July) is starting to fill up. Apart from Belgian displays by the Seaking A109, F-16, Hardship Red Marchetti Team probably a role demo attacking the airfield etc, there are also quite a few interesting foreign displays:

Croatia
Krila Oluje (F)

France
Patrouille de France (F -- Saturday only)
Cartouche Dorée (F)
Rafale (F)

Jordan
Royal Jordanian Falcons (F)

The Netherlands
F-16AM Fighting Falcon (F)

Spain
SF-5 (S)

Switzerland
Super Puma (F)
F-18C Hornet (F)

[Koen L]

Nice to see the Croatians have started to venture a bit further into western Europe!

[Chrisse]

New participants for Coxyde, in addition to those listed above (source: Mil.be):

Denmark
Baby blue team (F)
F-16 (S)

NATO
E-3A Awacs (S)

Netherlands
Hawker Hunter (F)
AB412 (F)
B-25 (F)
PC-7 (S)
Harvard (S)
Beaver (S)
Dornier 228 (S)

Norway
F-16 MLU (S)

Spain
Transport aircraft (S)

Civilian
NH90 Mock up (S)

[Chrisse]

Some new participants, as listed on Mil.be

Flying
Military
EH101 Merlin (UK)
Marche Verte display team (Maroc)

Civilian
2 Gnats(UK)
Spitfire (UK)
Mustang (B)
The Victors (B)
Fouga Magister (FR)
Vampire (FR)
Caudron Rafale (US)

Static
West Aero Club (B)
MD520 (B)
Tucano (UK)