The National Holiday of Belgium is celebrated on July 21. It is the date on which in 1831, the first king of the Belgians, Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, took the constitutional oath as king. Every year, in the afternoon there is a fly-by over Brussels during the national parade. In 2009, the 1st Wing at Beauvechain Air Base organized a spottersday at the occasion of the National Holiday.

The static display was a mix of Belgium and foreign aircraft. A lot of nations, like Italy, Great Britain, Hungary, the UK and The Netherlands, send training aircraft to Beauvechain, which is used for training of Belgium Air Force pilots. Because of the collaboration with the French Air Force in training pilots, the French send -amongst other aircraft- some Embraer Xingu’s that also participated in the fly-by over Brussels. The Xingu’s are used for advanced training of pilots who will fly transport aircraft later in their career. Aircraft taking part in the fly-by, like the Alpha Jet training aircraft of the Belgium Air Force, were parked on the flightline, and could be photographed as well.