The awesome photos in this post were taken from aboard an Airbus A400M and feature the “Dream Viper,” the special painted F-16AM belonging to the Belgian Air Force F-16 Solo Display Team
The awesome photos in this post were taken on May 4, 2023 by our friend Andrew Timmerman from Finn Aviation Photography from aboard an Airbus A400M of the Belgian Air Force and feature the “Dream Viper,” the special painted F-16AM belonging to the Belgian Air Force F-16 Solo Display Team.
Timmerman explains;
“I had the honor to do an A2A with the Belgian Air Force and the Dream Viper. Flight was from the home base of the Dream Viper and we flew south towards the Ardennes. After that we went to the Belgian coastline for some photos over the ocean and ended with flares being fired overhead Kleine-Brogel before Vrieske landed.”
As we have already explained the F-16’s design was created by Senior Captain Steven “Vrieske” De Vries (who is also the Dream Viper demonstration pilot and the 19th F-16 demonstration pilot since 1979 for the Belgian Air Force).
The fantastic painting is from the painters section of the Kleine-Brogel Air Base.
After a period of technical inspections and detailed painting, the aircraft with the tail number FA-87 and named “Dream Viper” had been unveiled on Thursday, Jun. 9, 2022 to colleagues, guests, media and aviation enthusiasts under the approving eye of the Air Component Commander, the Major General Aviator Thierry Dupont.
Vrieske was chosen as the new Belgian Display Pilot on F-16 in October 2021 for the seasons 2022-2024.
On his first ever display with his Dream Viper he got awarded the Bill Hartree Trophy for the most entertaining Flying Display during the Cosford Airshow at Royal Air Force (RAF) Cosford, UK. And won the prize for best livery in Fairford during the Royal International Air Tattoo.
During the demo Vrieske shows the enormous power of the F-16, but where this demo differs greatly from others, is in the amount of manoeuvers with negative G-forces, something that fighter aircraft like the F-16 don’t usually perform in abundance.
Photo by Andrew Timmerman