12 September 1981 – Airshow

The airshow was held in September for the first time this year. In hindsight, this proved to be an excellent decision. Probably partly due to the great weather, far more people attended than the Air Force had expected. The organizers had anticipated 150,000 visitors, but in the end around 250,000 people visited the base.
Unfortunately, the open day was used by the left-wing extremist movement Onkruit as an opportunity to protest against the military. The rioters were forcibly removed from the airfield by air force security personnel, the military police, and later even the riot police, with some protesters suffering dog bites.
In terms of aircraft, the line-up was excellent, featuring many participants from the Royal Netherlands Air Force and the USAF. But also the RAF, French Air Force and German Air Force participated.
The highlight of the show was a demonstration by a Bitburg-based F-15C. Unfortunately, the F-15 crashed while landing after the show. You can read more about this accident on the Accidents page. Following the crash, the airshow was not resumed, meaning the audience unfortunately missed, among other things, the Harrier demonstration.

See the participating aircraft in the Movements database.