The first airshow report of 2010. The Wings and Wheels airshow 2010.

The Wings and Wheels event is not just about planes, but also about the wheels of cars and other vehicles that are ground based. The two are combined, you have the part where you can find all sorts of classic cars and then there is the flying part.

After a 3 hour drive I arrived at the airport, with plenty of sun, so spirits were high. Before the airshow I walked around the airport and alot of classic cars could be seen, some real classics among them. The show started at around 12:00 with some parachute jumpers.

Some of the planes that landed were real classics too, like the Tiger Moth, a true classic, which was even used for training by the LSK, which is the named used before the LSK became the RNLAF. Another nice classic was the DeHavilland Chipmunk. The Chipmunk has that typical engine music, that you just love to hear.

Let's get onto the show itself. Don't expect any jets flying at this airshow. Let me give you the true showmakers. In short it was the Super Canard, the Verhees Delta, the Yak-52 and the Breitling Wingwalkers, but last but not least a man who made a tandem jump. Let me start with the last one.

He was brave enough to jump out of an aeroplane, hooked onto another guy. The perfectly white chute opened and once he landed, he asked his girlfriend to marry him. Luckily for him she said yes. Congratulations to both of them.

The Super Canard is a strange contraption, it's like the plane is built backwards, since it's elevator is in the front, the prop in the back. It is small too, but along with the Verhees Delta, it's not the size that matters. It's what you can do with it. The Super Canard is a speedy agile plane. One of the things you will see when you play close attention that it's stall characteristics are backwards too. as the main wing is in the back you will see it tip somewhat differently.

A plane that is quite alike is the Verhees Delta, when it took off and flew around I saw other pilots look at it and say, what on earth is that. It's almost all aluminium design, very small but like the Canard it is very agile and fast, one disadvantage is that you can't be too big as a pilot as you simply wouldn't fit.

The Yak-52 drew crowds too as soon as the demo of Robert "Redyak" de Vries started. The smoke system didn't work properly but still it was a great demo. The crowd noticeably liked the display, especially the tumbles and stall turns. Evidently the Yak-52 is a great crowd pleaser. Soon I will have an interview with some of the pilots of the team and I'm curious to know what the appeal of the Yak-52 is.

Last of the showmakers are the Breitling Wingwalkers, what a team and what a show. The "job" of wingwalking has been around since the 1920's, with barnstorming and the likes. After all these years, this kind of airshow flying still gathers big crowds. Constantly people were asking the team, when will you fly? Luckily they did 2 demos that day. The show consists of formation flying, spectacular breaks and passes while at the same time there are girls on top of the wing who graciously do their moves in the air.

All in all this was a good airshow, well organised and with plenty of sights. Not the biggest of airshows out there. But with participants like the wingwalkers and the Yak-52, it was bound to be a crowd-pleaser.

Be sure to check out the galleries, videos, interviews and wallpapers section for even more on this show.