{"id":1997,"date":"2026-03-20T11:03:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T10:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.belgianairforcedays.be\/?p=1997"},"modified":"2026-04-24T09:54:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T08:54:29","slug":"formation-team-the-victors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.belgianairforcedays.be\/en\/formation-team-the-victors\/","title":{"rendered":"Formation Team The Victors."},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Formation Team The Victors is a Belgian civilian formation flying team specializing in precision flying. Based at the former military airfield of Ursel (EBUL), the team brings together several pilots passionate about aviation. Since its creation in 2004, the team has regularly participated in airshows in Belgium and various European countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Origin<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The team was formed by coincidence. In 2004, three pilots were approaching Ursel airfield at the same time and decided to try flying in formation. They enjoyed the experience so much that they began training every weekend to improve their technique with the help of experienced pilots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly afterward, they were invited to perform a fly past at a local event, marking the official birth of The Victors formation team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name \u201cThe Victors\u201d comes from the registrations of the first three aircraft they used, all beginning with the letter \u201cV,\u201d pronounced \u201cVictor\u201d in the international phonetic alphabet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pilots<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The team consists of six pilots and a small support crew. Most of the pilots are not full time professionals, as they also have other careers. However, all of them have substantial flying experience and train regularly to ensure the precision of their demonstrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pilots include:
\u2022 Emmanuel De Craene \u2013 formation leader (Victor 1)
\u2022 Luc De Smet \u2013 left wing (Victor 2)
\u2022 Rick De Smet \u2013 right wing (Victor 3)
\u2022 Bram Joly \u2013 rear position (Victor 4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During demonstrations, four aircraft usually fly together in a precise choreography, but on special occasions the formation may expand to five or six aircraft, joined by former Victors pilots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aircraft<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The team flies the Piper PA 28 Cherokee, a light aircraft widely used in flying clubs for training and leisure. This aircraft was not originally designed for formation flying and has relatively limited power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is precisely what makes The Victors\u2019 displays remarkable: thanks to their precision and coordination, the pilots perform elegant and tight maneuvers, proving that a training aircraft can still deliver an impressive airshow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Introduction Formation Team The Victors est une patrouille civile belge sp\u00e9cialis\u00e9e dans le vol en formation de pr\u00e9cision. Bas\u00e9e sur l\u2019ancien a\u00e9rodrome militaire d\u2019Ursel (EBUL), l\u2019\u00e9quipe rassemble plusieurs pilotes passionn\u00e9s d\u2019aviation. Depuis sa cr\u00e9ation en 2004, elle participe r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement \u00e0 des meetings a\u00e9riens en Belgique et dans plusieurs pays europ\u00e9ens. Origine La cr\u00e9ation de l\u2019\u00e9quipe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,74],"tags":[72],"class_list":["post-1997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aircrafts","category-team-the-victors","tag-baf-days-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.belgianairforcedays.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.belgianairforcedays.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.belgianairforcedays.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.belgianairforcedays.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.belgianairforcedays.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1997"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.belgianairforcedays.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2443,"href":"https:\/\/www.belgianairforcedays.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1997\/revisions\/2443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.belgianairforcedays.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.belgianairforcedays.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.belgianairforcedays.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.belgianairforcedays.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}