The 20th edition of this airshow Volkel in de Wolken (Volkel in the Clouds), was held the 29th of May 2011 and is an event with lots of sights and action.

Volkel in de Wolken is not only an airshow, there's also a fair, cars and other festive activities. The entrance fee for all of this is a bargain.

Throttle and Stick Airshow Aviation Photography was there to attend the airshow, the program was very promissing, the highlights were The GliderFx display team, the Swip display team, Mark Jefferies, the Captens and last but not least, the RNLAF Apache demoteam.

The day started of cloudy, a thick overcast, fortunately at an altitude high enough for the first display to start. Before the first display the show was opened by a tow done by the Glider FX display team, a nice touch.

That first display was by Mark Jefferies in his Extra-330sc. What a great display it was, with plenty of spectacular aerobatic maneuvers. The Extra-330sc is a very agile plane with staggering roll rates in excess of 440 degrees per second.

The second participant was an odd looking plane to some, the Super Canard, don't let looks fool you, this is a very agile and very fast plane, quite a bit older was the T-6 Harvard, a great plane, usually seen in a yellow color, this time a nice grey with blue color scheme, nicely done.

An Antonov AN-2 bi-plane made it's appearance, the biggest biplane in the world, used for many occasions, flying freight, dropping para's or display flying. Rob de Man, display pilot, put up a great show, the slow flight was amazing to see, something you wouldn't expect with such a big plane. It seemed like it was hanging in mid-air.

Another participant from the UK is the SWIP display team, consisting of two Silence Twisters, flown by Peter Wells and Guy Westgate. The planes have the Supermarine Spitfire feel about them, this mostly because of the shape of the wing, which is very similar and is one of the things that make these planes very maneuverable. The display itself is great, tight formation flying and some very original opposite passes.

Hans van Geffen gave a great display in the Robin-2160 a basic trainer, with no inverted flight system onboard it's more difficult to fly a display. A great show with lots of aerobatic maneuvers you see with planes like the Extra-300.

The next solo was for the Pitts Samson II. What a great looking plane with a great smokesystem, nice thick clouds of smoke, a plane I hope to see more of in other airshows.

Next up was the GliderFX display team, with a Piper Pawnee tugplane and a MDM-1 Fox, the display was a 2-part display, first the sailplane was tugged by the Pawnee, where it did rolls. Yes, you read it correctly, rolls. Now it was time to show the aerobatic capability of the sailpane by gaining altitude and disconnecting the tow cable. Guy Westgate, display pilot of the sailplane showed some great maneuvers. The sailplane was also fitted with a smoke system.

Warbirds were present too, 3 of them, the Yak-3, the Spitfire and P-51 Mustang all gave a great demo. The engine's always sound like music. Maybe next time it's an idea for the organisers to let them do a formation flight.

Civil aviation was well represented, by the before mentioned Super Canard and by the Victor Romeo team. The Victor Romeo team flies 5 GA aircraft which fly in different formations. Flying in these planes is extra hard, since they have far less power to correct than say a Spitfire. A great display with tight formation flying.

Two more solos, very different from each other, the Saab Safir and the Extra-300 flown by former Red Bull airracer Frank Versteegh. A great demo, be it with little smoke, plenty of tumbles, stallturns and just plain fun.

The Fouga Magister showed a part of RNLAF heritage, a small jet, but what a jet. It makes for a great display and who doesn't like the sound of jets. Another solo, much like the ones done by Mark Jefferies and Frank Versteegh was done by Eric Vazeille in the CAP232, a great display with again dizzying aerobatics.

It was time for the headliner of the show the RNLAF Apache demoteam, revamped with a totally new stickerscheme, the stickers are chosen to be able to get the AH-64 back to operational status in notime, the scheme looks absolutely great as does the show. Flown by Roland "Wally" Blankenspoor and Paul "Wokkel" Webbink, the team gives an excellent display of the flight dynamics of the AH-64 Apache. The team performs rolls and loops, something you won't see a chopper do normally. The flares add to the spectacular demo.

Another part of Dutch aviation heritage were the Fokker Four, four S-11's giving a great demo despite the hard wind. You will be amazed of what these planes can still do, the Tulip Break, being a good example of that.

From France the Captens display team was up next. The Captens consist of Marianne-Maire Shaw and Adam Shaw, the perfect aerobatic couple. The display flying is tight, the smoke is thick and the whole display is just great to see. There is something about these two that just mesmerizes you.

The CH-47 Chinook was one of the last participants in the show. Before it left it gave a quick demo of it's capabilities, this helicopter is more agile than you would think.

The organisers of Volkel in de Wolken did it again, put together a great flying display and have great weather at the same time, the day ended with plenty of sun, something which the organisers can't control.

See you next year at Volkel in de Wolken 2012.