Vintage Aerobatic World Championships

31/03/2026

World turbulence ☹… but its SPRINGTIME! Let´s challenge
ourselves in the air!

I hope that you all have enjoyed a NICE easter… and maybe you actually got your old plane in the air✈️. If not, fun vintage aerobatic flights are just around the corner. Looking into the 2026 VAWC is very promising. Why…?

2026 is the first 10-year anniversary of VAWC! Time flies! But what at GREAT time we have had the first 10 years… and let us continue this, firing up the engines and getting together for social and competitive FUN 😊

After the big success at VAWC 2025 in Bienenfarm, VAWC 2026 is - as you all know - back in Odense / H.C. Andersen Airport in mid Denmark. We did test the venue at VAWC 2021 and 2024, and the organization, the location and the level of safety is a very fine mixture. (VAWC 2026 13-16th of August)

Also, the nearness to Odense opens for many cultural experiences for spouses and friends… and for us all in case of bad weather.

At VAWC “headquarters” we have used the wintertime to make all the initial planning, and many details is under control. But please stay tuned at the website and/or FaceBook

Enclosed you find the KNOWN PROGRAMS for the season… and these is of cause also to be found on the webpage (two way in: Via INTRODUCTION or via “Flight Sequences”.) Please note that the pilots flying in the Dancing the Cloverleaf category will have the added fun-element of having TWO known flights. This because we want to respond to the BIG desire among these pilots to fly more at the VAWC contents.

Rolling the circle https://tinyurl.com/3sxv82tk
Looping the loop https://tinyurl.com/4p8aw3ca
Dancing the cloverleaf 1: https://tinyurl.com/5n6fd894
Dancing the cloverleaf 2: https://tinyurl.com/2xwd8mca

Soon the webpage https://vintageaerobatic.com/vawc-2026/ will be fully updated with contact details for all involved at the “mothership”, but until then you can always reach out for me at [email protected] or +45 26248888.

Please remember that the programs and the culture call for also newcomers to join… and for spouses to participate. Very important!

Already now I can announce that Nick Buckingham (UK) will rule VAWC from the Chief Judge chair. This is very positive and will provide huge experience and excellent spirit and atmosphere. Most of you will know Nick but for you who don’t, Nick was the President of CIVA… and is a VERY experienced international judge. ALSO, Reiner Scheler (Germany) and Lars Petter (Norway) continue their fine judging on the line… and very positive is that our HANNA will be running the scoring again. (+ lots of other things )

Please register now to be sure to compete at VAWC 2026… and please be aware that its “first in” that rules. (max. 35 participants)

Looking forward to seeing you in H. C. Andersen Airport 13 of August at the 20:00 opening and welcoming briefing. Or before!

All best
Søren Dolriis / VAWC Founder

We look forward to welcoming you all – spouses and family included – to H.C Andersen Airport. All sails are set for a great event!

03/10/2025

VAWC 2025 in Bienenfarm... GREAT SUCCESS!

I salute all participants, spouses and VAWC friends for bringing the vintage gathering and competition to life. And what a way!!!

Big thanks to the strong QUAX club, all the voluntaries… and not a least to the enthusiastic core team of Alex, Kay, and Matthias. The spirit and the logistics of the club and the Bienenfarm venue, is something special… and worthwhile a visit if you did not experience the action at VAWC 2025.

We saw more vintage flying than ever before, more new pilots and more first-timers at VAWC. And we saw lots of “old” VAWC pilots and friends, who again was instrumental to the spirit and the success. The perfect weather did give Contest Director Markus Egislperger (Germany) nice and easy circumstances to do the job. Nick Buckenham (UK) as Chief Judge, and the international judges Reiner (Germany) and Lars-Petter (Norway) did a great job scoring all the flights. Big thanks to all of you.

Again, we all enjoyed the fantastic “PERFORMANCE” flights flown to music (even live music played to Rainer Berndt´s beautiful performance). Also – I will never forget – big thanks to Hanna in her important multi-role regarding “herding cats” (pilots 😊), and handling most of the competition logistics and scoring!!!

After the competition we did a survey regarding learnings on as well the local/logistics, and the competition-logistic and “design”. The feedback is still very positive about VAWC as concept/idea, and Bienenfarm/QUAX also – with few “heads-ups” - scored very high. Together we have some positive learnings, which we of cause will implement in the future VAWC competitions. Looking forward!!

NEXT YEAR we will meet in H.C.Andersen Airport/Odense/Denmark.

We look forward to meeting all of you in August at the H.C.Andersen Airport, with the NICE hangar, spirit and atmosphere and hospitality of Jens and Bente.

Practice flying (with qualified judge on the ground/radio) on Wednesday August 12th. The opening briefing will be held at Thursday 13th at 20:00 (*). Competition flying on 14 and 15th. Spare flying day/home flying on Sunday 16th.

(*) if many participants, we might move the briefing time to an earlier start (like this year)
Following the learnings from the evaluation/response, we plan to fly Looping the Loop as previous years (one KNOWN program). In Dancing the Cloverleaf, we will compose two KNOWN programs for the season. If time allows the pilots can choose either KNOWN 1 or KNOWN 2 for his/her third flight. In Rolling the Circle we continue to fly one KNOWN program + one or two exiting unknowns.

THE PERFORMANCE rules/scoring will be unchanged. The judging line will only be maned with individuals who have participated in the Pilots PERFORMANCE dance/presentation.

If we will be lucky enough to have more gliders, we plan to let these compete in their own category, battling for their own award … and champagne 😊.

Regarding THE PERFORMANCE/TEAM we will rethink the scoring criteria, and make sure that the beautiful TEAM flights will have their own category…. and award!

Stay tuned! We will return when we have the new registration-format up/tested and running…

We really enjoy your effort and enthusiasm regarding VAWC.
It IS more than a competition; it is a movement!

All the very best

Be safe but have BIG fun!
Søren

Please note: The webpage will be updated during the next 3-4 weeks.

03/08/2025

‼️‼️‼️Fake profile! ‼️‼️‼️

It has come to our attention that a fake profile has been made under the event name. Also live feed is advertised.

❗️NO LIVE FEED! ❗️

Please inform fb of these fake accounts!‼️‼️‼️

18/07/2025

VAWC 2025 is closing in!

NEW briefing time:
Thursday August 7.th at 13.00 😊

Dear all brave Vintage Aerobatic Pilots and friends. The outlook for VAWC 2025 is very positive. The combination of the positive trend itself, and the location and hosting of Quax Flieger in Binenfarm seems a very appealing cocktail. We will meet many new participants, already now we have 42 registrations. This “happy trouble” means two things: First we have to close for further registrations, and secondly, we have to start flying earlier enabling us to fly more than 110 vintage aerobatic flights 😊

We will enjoy 21 pilots in Looping the Loop, 15 pilots in Dancing the Cloverleaf, 8 brave pilots in Rolling the Circle, and 23 in The Performance/Solo, and 1 in The Performance/TEAM. WAU!!!

Two KNOWN flights in Looping the Loop and Dancing the Cloverleaf, and one KNOWN + one UNKNOWN flight in Rolling the Circle + 24 fantastic pilots in The Performance (incl. one PERFORMANCE/TEAM) translates to more than 110 spectacular flights in front of our strong international judge team.

We do have – according to our rules – a possibility to limit the number of participants to 35 pilots, but we do hope that you all will support the movement and accept of starting the competition with a OPENING BRIEFING Thursday 7th at 13… starting flights at 14:00. If we do fly efficiently in the afternoon/early evening… we can make it and finish all flights before the award party Saturday evening. (cross fingers for beautiful flying conditions).

NOTE: If some pilots cannot make this briefing time, we will arrange for a second briefing later on the 7th. If this is the case for you, please advise me on e-mail.: [email protected]

The participating pilots (who have already registered will receive further approach/logistic briefing directly from the local organizer Quax Fliger Club.

For all of you who want to support the Vintage Aerobatic movement and visit VAWC 2025/Bienenfarm you can re-visit which type of airplanes you can look forward to seeing:

Vintage category: Airplanes with type certificate (or alike) before 1955
Classic category: Airplanes with type certificate (or alike) before 1975 and after 1955
Replica category: Replicas of Vintage or Classic airplanes. (Re-engined/modified/home build)

Also, vintage and classic gliders will be flying the most elegant maneuvers.

Regarding THE PERFORMANCE…

Here we are flying a Freestyle performance by individual pilots or teams. It’s truly fantastic romantic, visual, and emotional experience. The pilots should be aware that you shall present and motivate your creative flight design in the briefing room before the flight… and you shall design your program to use MAX 6 minutes in the “box”.

Regarding your logistics etc. - please contact the local organizer represented by Kay Rechthien. [email protected] (telephone no: +49 1609 2342 000) For further contacts, please investigate the web page.

Looking forward to seeing you all at Bienenfarm… 😊

Søren Dolriis
VAWC /Founder

29/06/2025

Was ist der VAWC?🤔

Vom 8.–10. August richtet Quax zum ersten Mal die Vintage Aerobatic World Championship aus – ein weltweit einzigartiger Wettbewerb, bei dem historische Flugzeuge in präzisen Kunstflugprogrammen gegeneinander antreten.

Die Teilnehmer fliegen in mehreren Schwierigkeitsstufen vor einer internationalen Jury –in historischen Flugzeugen aus den 1930er bis 1960er Jahren! 🛩️

Was die VAWC besonders macht?
👉 Die Kombination aus fliegerischer Höchstleistung, authentischer Vintage-Atmosphäre und einem offenen Event für die ganze Familie. Ob Luftfahrtfan oder neugieriger Zuschauer – hier gibt’s Kunstflug zum Staunen und Oldtimer zum Verlieben.

📍 Flughafen Bienenfarm
🎟️ Zuschauer herzlich willkommen!
🧺 Mit Rahmenprogramm, Essen & Getränken und der Chance auf Rundflüge!

Infos & Tickets unter www.oldtimer-flugtag.de.

Markiere deine Crew und sei dabei, wenn Geschichte fliegt!

04/04/2025

The sun and temperature are rising!!! Let’s get airborne!

Easter is just around the corner, and we are looking into a FANTASTIC VAWC season, and not at least a very (VERY) promising VAWC gathering at Bienenfarm August 7-10.

The interest for VAWC 2025 is very intense… and please do get moving with your registration, since we do – according to the terms in the “rules” at the website - have a limit of 35 participating pilots. The web-page is now updated with the KNOWN programs for 2025… feel free to study, print …. AND FLY!!!
https://vintageaerobatic.com/introduction/

The Venue Bienenfarm is fantastic and the organization / Quax Flieger/Bienenfarm are in fine progress regarding the preparations, and everything looks very promising. And as you can imagine, the near location west of Berlin opens for VERY many historical and social experiences before/after… and during VAWC in case of bad weather. So do bring your spouse, family and friends.

Soon the webpage will be fully updated with contact details for all involved at the “mothership”, but until then you can always reach out for me at [email protected] or +45 26248888.

Please remember that the flight-programs, the comradeship, and the culture is very welcoming to newcomers and less experienced aerobatic pilots. And do plan for bringing your spouses, family, and friends. Very important!

Already now I can announce that Nick Buckingham have accepted to take on the Chief Judge role together with his wife Jen. This is very positive and will provide huge experience and excellent spirit and atmosphere. Further the judge line will be confirmed soon.

Looking forward to seeing your registration
Søren Dolriis / VAWC Founder

NOTE: Apart from the general strong participations we also are delighted to announce that the DRAGON TRENER TEAM will perform in The Performance/TEAM. Please ask around you network to find a competing TEAM to challenge those brave pilots.

introduction to VAWC - our beloved vintage airplanes are capable of performing which Include creative elements like manoeuvres, rhythm and music. The sky’s the limit!

31/03/2025

The Vintage Aerobatic World Championships proudly presents, the Contest Director 2025: Markus Eigelsberger

Hello and a warm welcome to all contestants, judges, officials, visitors and spectators.
My name is Markus Eiglsperger a Bavarian airman, over 50 years in aviation. This year I am your contest director for the VAWC in Bienenfarm airfield, hosted by the Quax group. For many years I accompanied Vintage Aerobatic World Championship events in Denmark, Germany, England and now again in Germany for the third time. It is a pleasure for me to see the vintage planes dancing in the sky, piloted by enthusiastic friends, for pleasure and fun. In this spirit I will guide you through this contest, that is not driven by the stubborn pursuit of victory. Let’s have joy and fun with fantastic and safe flights.

Markus Eiglsperger

24/08/2024

The results are here! Congratulations to all!

06/08/2024

VAWC 2024… counting down!
DEAR ALL BRAVE VINTAGE AEROBATIC PILOTS AND FRIENDS. THE OUTLOOK FOR VAWC 2024 IS STILL VERY POSITIVE.
RIGHT NOW, 24 PILOTS HAVE REGISTERED OR GIVEN VERBAL PROMISE TO JOIN. THIS COULD BE A RECORD YEAR – FANTASTIC!

Most practical issues are just about to be lined up, and ready to go… and we look forward to welcoming all of you being competitors, spouses or “VAWC friends”. Just reach out for Susanne in the contest office when you arrive, and she will assist you. (please – the few of you still missing - do register 😊)Please be ready for the opening briefing Thursday evening at 20:00, 22nd. (in the hangar). Spouses and friends are of course welcome to join.

Experienced Judge Line We are happy to announce a Judge Line with huge experience from aviation as well from national and international aerobatic competitions…. and previous VAWC competitions.

Chief Judge; International Judge Nick Buckenham (UK), assisted by Jen
Reiner Scheler (Germany) assisted by Uwe Suthau (Germany)
Lars Petter Eriksen (Norway), assisted by (TBD)

Aerobatic Pilot Declaration Please also note that pilots – due to new tighter ICAO and EU administrative Red Tape – must proof that the aircraft is allowed to fly in Danish airspace. This is a no brainer for most pilots/airplanes, but please check it out. I will send out the Aerobatic Pilot Declaration directly to the participating pilots within few days. You can sign this and e-mail return… or just sign in the contest office at arrival.

Hotels and logistics Camping and Camper-parking at the airfield is possible.Regarding other logistic – e.g. ideas for hotels - please contact the event coordinator Helle Brunse at [email protected]. +45 22935091. Helle will do her best to assist you…

Looking forward! Look forward to the beautiful flying, the friendship… and the award party Saturday night. (I have booked a Swing Jazz, Big BAND…!!!) (please indicate on the registration how many persons you plan to bring to the award-party!!!)See you soon at H.C. Andersen Airport… we have a Fairytale to create together 😊

Søren Dolriis VAWC /Founder/Contest Director

Photo credits Karin Thormählen

17/04/2024

Message from the founder Søren Dolriis!

SPRINGTIME! Let’s fire up the engines!

Dear Vintage Aerobatic Enthusiasts…

Passing Easter and the first part of April, the 2024 season seems very promising. Why…?

Well…. First, the sky must be EMPTY, not a drop of water – if any logic is left – can still be up there. Secondly, the initial indication of participation is very promising. And this year we have also very promising interest from Sweden and Norway 😊

As you all know we will be back in Odense / H.C. Andersen Airport in mid Denmark. We did test the venue at VAWC 2021, and the organization, the location and the level of safety is a very fine mixture.Also the nearness to Odense opens for many cultural experiences for spouses and friends… and for us all in case of bad weather.

At VAWC “headquarters” we have used the wintertime to make all the initial planning, and not a least to book a Big Band Swing Jazz band, staring Søren Andersen who participated with his Harvard at VAWC 2021.

From the website you find the KNOWN PROGRAMS for the season… https://vintageaerobatic.com/introduction/ (two way in: Via INTRODUCTION or via “Flight Sequences”.)

Soon the webpage will be fully updated with contact details for all involved at the “mothership”, but until then you can always reach out for me at [email protected] or +45 26248888.

Please remember that the programs and the culture calls for also newcomers to join… and for spouses to participate. Very important.

Already now I can announce that we have got Nick Buckingham to take on the Chief Judge role. This is very positive and will provide huge experience and excellent spirit and atmosphere. Most of you will know Nick but for you who don’t, Nick is President of CIVA… and a VERY experienced international judge.

Please register now to be sure to compete at VAWC 2024… and please be aware that its “first in” that rules. (max. 35 participants) (read more on the web).

Looking forward to seeing you in H.C.Andersen Airport 22 of August at the 20:00 opening and welcoming briefing. Or before!

All best
Søren Dolriis / VAWC Founder

introduction to VAWC - our beloved vintage airplanes are capable of performing which Include creative elements like manoeuvres, rhythm and music. The sky’s the limit!

28/08/2023

Sorry for a bit delayed post, but here are the results!

Rolling the Circle

1. Bernhard Drummer
2. Florian Kowohl
3. Rainer Berndt

Dancing the Cloverleaf

1. Dietmar Poll
2. Kathi Suthau
3. Thomas Sachse

Looping the loop

1. Claus Cordes
2. Mark Oliver Klenk
3. Alex Stegner

The Performance (Solo)

1. Dietmar Poll
2. Bernhard Drummer
3. Mark Oliver Klenk

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!!

15/08/2023

Dear all brave Vintage Pilots and friends,

VAWC 2023 is closing in and we are all looking forward to seeing as many of you in St. Michaelisdonn

Also, the judge line is ready for you, scoring your beautiful vintage maneuvering in the sky!

We are proud to announce that the judging line of VAWC 2023 consists of true aviators, loaded with true aviation sprit.

Our Chief Judge is Thore Thoreson from Oslo, Norway. Thore is a mechanical engineer who has been into aviation all his life. He is a seven time National champion in the Advanced category, and the 2015 Nordic Champion. Thore enjoys flying different varieties of aircraft, and he is checked out in about 40 different types, ranging from the J-2 Taylor Cub to the Hawker Sea Fury. He also enjoys being on the judging line, and doing various other tasks, like evaluating display pilots. He also is an active RC-modeller. Maybe next year we get to see him compete in the Vintage competition with his Chipmunk. Søren Dolriis will be assisting Thore.

Along with him are judges Reiner Scheler and Phil Lawton.

Reiner Scheler from Germany has been flying since 1982 and worked since 1985 at the judge line for glider aerobatics in national and international world championships.

Since 2014 he is also judging at Bavarian and German power aerobatic championships. This is his 4th vintage aerobatics competition. Reiner has also built his own airplane between 2014-2018. Uwe Suthau will be assisting Reiner.

Phil Lawton is a British man living permanently in Finland. He has been flying aerobatics and airshows for several years with different modern and vintage planes and currently flies Valmet Viima from 1937 among other planes. He has restored several old planes, including a Hawker Hurricane and is keen to get a flying museum established in Finland. He firmly believes that all old aircraft belong to the sky. This is the second time Phil attends the Vintage aerobatic event. Hanna Räihä will be assisting Phil.

Please do ask around your flying friends if they would join us all in St. Michailisdonn. And do remember to bring your friends and spouse. Great fun is ahead! Connect to me or Norbert if you need assistance with registration and/or hotel bookings.
Looking forward to a great competition

Søren Dolriis

VAWC/Founder