Stampe Forever Fly-In 2026
- Kris Christiaens
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
The Stampe Forever Fly-In took place at Antwerp Airport on the weekend of May 16 and 17, 2026. After a year-long hiatus, SV-4 biplanes and many other vintage aircraft were welcomed for the 31st time to the location where Stampe & Vertongen aircraft were once designed. During this two-day event, visitors were able to view some fifty aircraft, both on the ground and in the air. Most of these aircraft were SV-4 biplanes, which were designed in the 1930s and used by the Belgian Air Force for pilot training. In addition, there were many other vintage aircraft on display, such as various Piper Cubs and de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunks, the legendary Supermarine Spitfire, the impressive Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, and the T-6 Texan. The event, which was entirely dedicated to Belgium’s rich aviation history, ultimately drew more than 4,000 visitors. This proved once again that smaller aviation events can be very interesting and educational and that they should never disappear. For many vintage aircraft enthusiasts and photographers in Belgium, this was one of the highlights of the year!
The SV-4: Belgium's Most Famous Aircraft
On 17 May 1933, the Deurne factory produced something special. The SV-4 looked conventional enough, wooden wings, fabric covering, standard biplane layout, but fly one and you understood immediately why it stood apart. Ailerons on both upper and lower wings gave it a roll response that left contemporary trainers embarrassed. Stable enough for nervous students, sharp enough for aerobatics, and always honest about what it was doing. Designer Boris Demidoff, brought in after an early prototype incident, polished the aircraft into something genuinely exceptional. Only 35 had been built when the Germans arrived on 10 May 1940. Stampe evacuated what he could; the factory became a Messerschmitt repair shop. The retreating occupiers destroyed most of what remained in 1944. But the design had already escaped westward. Production rights sold to France in 1939 meant that after the war, SNCAN built 701 SV-4Cs for the French Air Force, with another 150 assembled in Algeria. Back in Antwerp, Stampe et Renard produced 65 SV-4Bs for the Belgian Air Force between 1948 and 1955. The Belgian military didn't retire its last example until 1978, forty-five years after that first flight at Deurne. Survivors are scattered across Europe today, many still flying. The type has popped up in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and High Road to China. In Belgian aviation, the SV-4 isn't just a historic aircraft, it's a point of national pride.
Famous for its Formation Flights
During each edition of the Stampe & Vertongen fly-in events, the formation flights featuring various types of aircraft are one of the highlights. Following tradition, this year’s event also featured a formation flight with several SV-4 biplanes, as well as formation flights with Piper Cubs and Chipmunks. These were joined by Chipmunk aircraft that had flown in to Antwerp from the Netherlands. During previous editions, the organizers always managed to have dozens of SV-4 biplanes fly together on Sunday over the airport and the city of Antwerp as a tribute to the designers of these magnificent aircraft and the airport’s rich history.
The Fokker That Lived Nine Lives
In addition to the many SV-4 biplanes that could be admired both in the air and on the ground during this event, the flight of the Fokker D.VII replica was also a highlight for many. The Fokker D.VII replica at the Stampe & Vertongen Museum is one of those aircraft that carries more history than its logbook could ever contain. It was built in 1965 by Rousseau Aviation in the French town of Dinard, one of three replicas constructed specifically for the WWI epic film The Blue Max. When the cameras stopped rolling, the airframe headed to Ireland, picked up the registration EI-APT, and promptly got itself damaged in a landing accident that took it out of the sky for good. From there it crossed the Atlantic and ended up in the Ryder's Replica Fighter museum in Alabama, registered as N903AC, which is where it sat quietly for years while the world carried on around it. Around 2000 it finally made it back to Europe, passed into Belgian hands, went through a full restoration, and was repainted in a Belgian colour scheme more fitting for what it was always meant to represent. It now wears the markings O-BOBE, the identity of a Fokker D.VII once owned by the Ecole d'Aviation Anvers, Antwerp's own flying school, while keeping the patch-pattern camouflage that German Fokkers wore during the war. That registration matters more than it might seem: the very first aircraft entered in the Belgian civil aviation register was a Fokker D.VII, listed as O-BOBE. Stampe and Vertongen themselves had bought two of these ex-WWI fighters for their Antwerp flying school in the early 1920s, so the connection between this aircraft and the museum's founding story is direct. For years it sat static in the collection, admired, photographed, but firmly on the ground, while plans to make it airworthy again were talked about and quietly shelved. The breakthrough came on 8 March 2022, when the engine turned over under its own power for the first time during a series of ground tests. On 6 September 2025, Aaron Cabooter climbed into the cockpit and lifted it into the air above Antwerp, the official maiden flight, powered by a 205 hp de Havilland Gipsy Queen six-cylinder inline engine.
Plenty to see on the ground
At every edition of the Stampe & Vertongen Fly-In, the public also gets to see plenty of vintage aircraft and warbirds, as these aircraft have played a significant role in Belgian aviation. For example, there were demonstration flights by a Fouga Magister former trainer jet of the Belgian Air Force, T-6 Texan trainer aircraft from the 1950s, a Supermarine Spitfire, and a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. There were also some beautiful vintage aircraft on display as part of the static collection, including a Boeing-Stearman PT-13D Kaydet, a de Havilland Tiger Moth, a Pilatis PC-7 and a Hawker Fury. On the ground, visitors could also admire several Belgian Air Force aircraft, such as the impressive Airbus A400M military transport aircraft and an SIAI-Marchetti SF.260 training aircraft which will be replaced by the Pilatus PC-7 MKX in the near future. During each fly-in, the general public can also take a look inside the small but fascinating Stampe & Vertongen Museum, which houses several beautiful vintage aircraft, including a de Havilland Moth Minor, an Albatros D-V, and a Sopwith F-1 Camel.
Text & photos: Kris Christiaens
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