On Friday 18 and Saturday 19 June 2010, the Dutch Defense Helicopter Command organized the Royal Netherlands Air Force annual airshow at Gilze-Rijen Air Base that celebrated its 100th anniversary that year. Theme of the airshow was the ability of the Royal Netherlands Air Force to deploy worldwide.

250.000 spectators
The day before the start of the event, the air base was open to a select group of aircraft enthusiasts to photograph the arrival of the aircraft. On Friday 100.000 spectators visited Gilze-Rijen Air Base. On Saturday, no less than 150.000 visitors came to the airshow, which was more than expected. Not only because the weather predictions were not very good, but also because in the afternoon the Dutch national soccer team had to play a match against Japan at the World Cup tournament in South Africa. The organization erected two enormous screens at the airbase, on which the match was shown as a service for those who came to visit the airshow, but also wanted to cheer for the Dutch Orange Lions.

Mixed line-up
The line-up of this year’s airshow was quite divers. Seventeendifferent countries send one or more planes to Gilze-Rijen for the static and air show.The demo teams that were present were the Red Arrows, Patrouille de France, Turkish Stars, the Spanish Colibri Patrulla Aspa and the Royal Jordanian Falcons. Of course, the usual spectacular Royal Netherlands Air Force air power demo and SAR demo were held on both Friday and Saturday.

And by the way, the Dutch soccer team won the match against Japan with 1-0…