My very first time to the Heldair Show Maritiem. Held at Den Helder Airport. Heldair Show Maritiem is a nice colaboration between the civilian and military part of the field. Both open their doors to show what they do, like helicopter charter flights to drill sites in the North Sea and maintenance of the Lynx naval helicopter to name but a few.

Together with all the info and demonstrations there was an airshow, be it somewhat short, but not any less spectacular.

The paras opened up the show, which was soon followed by a spectacular demonstration of a hostage situation. Two Lynx helicopters swooped over the van and 4 special forces soldiers rappeled down the rope to stop the bad guys. The demo gave a clear picture of how agile the Lynx is.

Ofcourse the famous Fokker Four team were present, be it with 3 planes instead of 4. Not any less performance then we're used too. The Fokker S-11's had a very nice spot on the static line as well. To get a good look at the planes. Squadron leader was Stephen van Dijck.

Team Guinot was also present with two Stearmans, doing the famous wingwalking, something very popular in the old days. The wingwalkers and pilots are far from old. A spectacular show done by the team. Which unfortunately have to find a new sponsor, so if you want your company name on their planes, feel free to contact them.

As we have seen the Lynx, the follow up of that helicopter is the NH-90. A very very nice helicopter indeed. The NH-90 will be the workhorse for the Royal Netherlands Navy for the coming years. The NH-90 is equipped with the latest in avionics. The demonstration done by Italian pilots was a great one. I do hope to see it in service soon.

Woody was next in his Pitts Special, a great nimble little plane, that will amaze you with it's unlimited aerobatics. A very nice show, swiftly followed by Patrick Tuit, the famous Hawker Hunter roamed the skies. Owned by the Dutch Hawker Hunter Foundation, a bit of Dutch aviation history. The Hunter flown by Patrick was the Single Seat version.

One of the teams I was looking forward too was the Blades. A spectacular show, that really showed the Red Arrows experience most of the pilots have. 4 Extra 300's roamed the skies. Blade 1 was Myles Garland. We were in luck, the team had a little radio problem and had to start the show all over again. A shame that at the time they performed the skies clouded up.

On to my last review, the Catalina, what a beauty. Great to see her fly, this naval plane, searched for many, many German subs in World War 2. If you want you can take a ride on the Catalina, the same goes for the Fokker Four. Check the Aviodrome website.

I hope that the next Heldair show, will be even bigger. This year about 35.000 people attended the show. Till 2011!!