Dark Falcon-Circa 2018-2019
In 1979 the first F-16 joined the fleet of the Belgium Air Force (BAF) to replace the venerable F-104 Starfigher. That was 40 years ago. Since that day the BAF has decided to set up an F-16 Demo Team to present their jet and Belgian military pilot skills , and it still continues that tradition today. In 2018 Vador became the 18th F-16 pilot to continue that tradition for three consecutive years.
Obviously the everyday job of the whole Demo Team is to promote the capabilities of the Belgian Air Force, mainly during airshows at home and abroad.
To really stand out, the team has created a stunning paint scheme on the F-16A MLU „Fighting Falcon“, serial FA-101. With Vadors callsign and the close association to the ‚Dark Side‘, the main topic for the painting of F-16 was quickly found. The F-16 was to become the „Dark Falcon“.
As with every non-ordinary paintjob, hurdles obviously had to be overcome. A main issue was the radome color, that consists of a special paint that does not interfere with the radar, and usually is gray. But for the envisaged scheme a black nose was foreseen, and luckily in the end the team succeeded to let a black radome being produced for the display jet. Also the remaining colors on the fuselage had to make use of the standard grey tones normally found on the F-16. Even though this does not really sound fancy, one clearly has to admit that the designers did a stunning job with these restrictions.
Whereas the scheme on the fuselage stays the same during Vador’s three-year-long assignment as the F-16 Demo Pilot, the tail will change every year. In this year it shows the head of a falcon and also includes a red inscription „F-16 40 years“. A special colorspot is the Belgian flag on the left taileron. For the visits abroad the respective national flag is applied on the right taileron, a special feature to appreciate the reception by airshow organizers and recognize the friendship of airshow enthusiasts around Europe.
And in Keeping with the True Authenticity of the Actual Aircraft I have included All National Flags
On the Port Taileron.
Included Are :
Belgium UK RAF 100th
Netherlands Portugal Greece
France Czech Rep Poland
Austria
******** The 2018 Dark Falcon Only Contains the Belgian Livery , To save Download Size…