In the weekend of 20-22nd of May, Airport Weeze celebrated its 2nd anniversary by organising an air festival for the second time. The airport near the small town of Weeze is also known as Airport Niederrhein (Niederrhein region). The main terminal building is located at the single runway of the former RAF base Laarbruch. RAF Laarbruch was home to many RAF squadrons while they were based in Germany. The latest jets to be based here, were the Harriers which ultimately left in 1999. The location is ideally suited for a small regional civil airport, as it lies right in between Köln, Düsseldorf and Nijmegen.

The festival was divided in three parts, the funfair located in front of the terminal building, music performances inside the terminal, and the static show located 400-500m on the right of the terminal which also offered the best view for the flying display. Being located at the end of the runway, the static aircraft were located in front of the old shelters and hangar. Being a small show, the aircraft could be photographed almost without any obstacles (with exception of the C-160 and Atlantique) and from the sand walls surrounding each HAS.

The static show featured a German Tornado IDS, C-160, Atlantique II, UH-1D, Lynx, BO-105 and a Dutch PC-7. Also the RAF was present with the Hawk, Harrier and a Jaguar. The non-military part of the static show included one restore-in-progress F-104 (ex-Belgian) and more restored aircraft such as another F-104, DHC-1, B-25, T-6 and several Yak-52s. The flying show was far from interesting, featuring mainly only non-military or restored types (An-2, DC-3, B-25, Yak-52). The highlight probably being the B-25 pulling some impressive turns.

Being purely a military aviation fan, here are my photos of the military aircraft present. Although limited in battery power and optical zoom, I was able to produce these nice photos thanks to the superb weather.

At only €3 entrance and €3 parking, I would recommend to visit next year's edition to anyone in the Netherlands or Germany.