Belgian National Day - Military Air Parade 2024 - Blog Before Flight

Belgian Air Force A400M transport aircraft.

Every year on July 21st, the Belgian nation celebrates its national holiday. After the Belgian independence from the Netherlands in 1830, the new king Leopold of Saksen-Coburg-Gotha was sworn in as the Belgian king on July 21st 1831.

During this national holiday on July 21st, a military parade is held with foot soldiers and vehicles on the ground; followed by a military parade of aircraft and helicopters overhead the capital Brussels.

In 2024, the air parade consisted of

Flight in Airbus A400M

On 2024-07-21, three Airbus A400M transport aircraft were flying near the end of the air parade. Two weeks before the parade, the formation was exercising trial run and on Sunday July 21st, the real air parade was flown. From Melsbroek AB, an E-3A Sentry, a Falcon 7X and 3 A400Ms took off. The 3 A400Ms flew to a holding area overhead Brugge and turned into the Brussels direction together with the other aircraft, in order to have one big air parade overhead Brussels.

After the parade, the A400Ms flew in formation overhead the nearby Beauvechain airbase on course to Kleine-Brogel airbase in the northern part of Belgium. After Kleine-Brogel the formation flew towards Florennes airbase in the south, followed by a landing back at Melsbroek airbase. Next to the regular crew of two pilots, an additional third pilot was seated in the cockpit to control the formation and the schedule.

15 Wing

The Belgian transport command is based at Melsbroek AB (ICAO:EBMB), on the northern perimeter of Brussels International airport. It has a fleet of seven Airbus A400M transport aircraft in the 20th Squadron, which is a combined unit of Belgium and Luxembourg crews.

The first delivered A400M (CT-01) has the title “Luxembourg Armed Forces” and a roundel of Luxembourg on the aircraft. The other six A400Ms have the title “Belgian Air Force” and a Belgian roundel on the aircraft.

The15th Wing also has the 21st Squadron for the long haul transport of VIPs, flying with two leased Dassault Falcon 7X aircraft.