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Urs Schnyder & Michel E. Fader |
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Urs Schnyder & Michel E. Fader |
The Airshow at La Ferté is one of the oldest in Europe. Every year on the weekend of Pentecost a lot of aviation enthusiasts travel to the Aerodrome de Cerny to see rare aircraft taking to the air. There was only one reason this year not to go and that was the weather. The Saturday started with light clouds, but in the afternoon there were heavy showers. Sunday was better, without rain, but thick dark clouds.
Mr. Bernard Chabbert guided trough the program which was slightly too long to finish in the planned time. He really is able to comment or give details about every aircraft or pilot taking to the air.
Before and after the airshow there is the possibility to take to the air in different aircraft. For years now there is a Junkers Ju 52 from Ju Air attending the event for that purpose. Very often in the past it was also an Antonov An-2 from Donau Flug. This year however a new machine appeared. It was a De Havilland DH 104 Dove in the colours of LTU. One noticeable fact about the Dove was the extraordinary long take off run it needed to get airborne when loaded with passengers. This aircraft is clearly underpowered.
Douglas DC-3 in the colours of the Air France (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Douglas DC-3 in the colours of the Air France (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Boeing Stearman with Banner (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Spitfire & Hurricane (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Piper L-4 Cub (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Douglas AD-4N Skyraider(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Patroullie de France
The Patrouille de France gave their first display after returning from their tour of Canada and the United States. Between the 17th of March and the 9th of May they performed at 12 airshows. From New York o Washington DC, Melbourne FL, Kansas KA, Pensacola FL, Sacramento CA, Nellis NV, Colorado Springs CO via Langley VA, Norfolk VA to Ottawa and Montreal. Altogether there were 10 Alpha Jets and one Airbus A400M as well as 72 members of the Armée de l'Air involved in this undertaking. The Aircraft even received a special paint scheme for the tour. Stars were applied to the rudder to show the good relations between the countries.
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Wingwalker
Up to now the wingwalkers from Engand with their Stearman were a fixed part of the program. This year was different however. Danielle Del Buono-Hughes (27) took the wingwalking serious and started climbing around the aircraft. From the upper wing via the fuselage to the lower wing, She was even laying on the wires between the wings before she sat on the lower wing next to the interplane strut. Wingwalkers are exploiting a legal loophole in the EU legislation that only demands that passengers are belted up during start and landing. What they are allowed to do during the flight is not specified. Danielle showed what is possible to do. The Aircraft was flown by her husband, Emiliano Del Buono
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The beginning
"The magnificient men in their flying machines" was a well made film about the early years of aviation. At La Ferté they showed that it was not only men who flew in the early days. The Caudron G.3 was indeed flown by a woman to commemorate that. Besides there were the Morane H and the Bleriot XI that were displayed still with their original rotary engines which dispensed the smell of their castor oil around the airfield. The Deperdussin T which was shown for the first time however had a simple modern lycoming type engine beneath ist extended cowling.
Breguet 11 (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Breguet 11 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Breguet 11 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Breguet 11 & Morane H (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Breguet 11 & Morane H (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Morane H (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Deperdussin T (Picture courtesy MUrs Schnyder
Deperdussin T (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Deperdussin T (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Gaudron G.3 (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Gaudron G.3 (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Gaudron G.3 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The great war
Just as fragile as the aircraft from the pioneering years are the ones from the first world war, ort he great war as it is called in France and Britain. Two SE5a which in reality are converted Tiger Moths and a replica of a german aviatik showed how aerial fighting was done in the great war. Afterwards a Spad XIII and a Bristol Fighter showed how the fighting planes had developed towards the end of the war. The Bristol Fighter is actually a replica that was buildt in New Zealand from original plans.
Bristol Fighter (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
SPAD 13 (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
SE-5A (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Aviatic (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Aviatic (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
SE-5A (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
SE-5A & Aviatic (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Bristol Fighter & SPAD 13(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
SE-5A & Aviatic (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Between the wars
The
years between the wars are always a topic at La Ferté-Alais. A couple of
Morane Saulnier are normally flown.
2017
was also different in this respect as the Breguet 14 in the colours of
Escadrille C 11 "Cocotte" flew again after a very long absence.
Other
types from that area were a Laird LCW-300 Speedwing and a Ryan SCW-145
that was carrying an australian registration.
Still in the pre war colours of No. 72 squadron was the Gloster
Gladiator from the Fighter Collection. It unfortunately didn’t fly
because of engine problems and spent the days as hangar queen.
Brerguet 14 (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Brerguet 14 (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Brerguet 14 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Brerguet 14 (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Laird LCW-300 Speedwing (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder
Ryan SCW-145 (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Ryan SCW-145 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder
Stinson Reliant (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Beech 18 (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Beech 18 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
The Russians and the Germans
A big topic in France when it comes to the second world war is the Normandie-Niemen Unit. It was formed from the personel of the Normandie Squadron that was stationed in Syria in 1942. The reason was an agreement between the sowjet gouvernment and Charles de Gaulle in March 1942. Untill the german capitulation on the 9th of May 1945 the unit flew 5062 missions and destroyed 273 german aircraft in 869 air combats.
In the 2017 issue a Junkers Ju 52 and a Fieseler Storch were the opponents of the Jaks. The Junkers even dropped three parachutists that actually used the old type of round parachutes. Two of them were caught by the wind and drifted into the forest. This showed directly the big disadvantage of these type of parachute. They are almost impossible to control.
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Fieseler & Ju.52 (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Fieseler Storch (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Junkers Ju-52 (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Junkers Ju-52 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder
Vietnam
A
relatively new topic at the La Ferté-Alais airshow is Vietnam. Not
Indochine as the conflict was called when France was still involved, but
Vietnam as the United States fought in that war. This year there was a
Cessna O-2 Skymaster and two T-28 Trojan as well as two A-1 Skyraider
that flew in the program. The T-28 was used by the South Vietnamese
Forces as light attack aircraft. The Skyraider A-1 were used by the USAF,
USN und VNAF in that conflict. The Skymaster flew in the colours of
South Vietnam but in reality it was only used by the US forces. The
Vietnamese used the older Cessna O-1 Birddog.
Not to be missed were the spezial effects like in the movies. The black clouds from the explosives formed a good background for the aircraft.
Cessna O-2 Skymaster (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Douglas AD-4N Skyraider(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Cessna O-2 Skymaster (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder
Douglas Skyraider (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Douglas AD-4N Skyraider (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Douglas Skyraider (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
North American T-28 Trojan (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Douglas AD-4N Skyraider (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder
Skyraider & Trojan (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
and also ...
It is impossible for Wings-Aviation to mention and show all the points of the very varied and long program so we have restricted ourselves to some of the program points. Surely a highlight of the program was the Hawker team where a Hawker Sea Fury FB10 F-AZXJ and Hawker Hunter T68 HB-RVR demonstrated that it is possible for propeller and jet engined aircraft to fly together in formation. The last flypasts were done together with a Rafale F.1 of the Armée de l'Air which afterwards launched into its display.
Hawker Sea Fury (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Team Hawker (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Team Hawker (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Sea Fury, Hunter & Rafale (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Sea Fury, Hunter & Rafale (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Dassault Rafale C (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Dassault Rafale C (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Dassault Rafale C (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Dassault Rafale C (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Dassault Rafale C (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Transall C-160 der Armeé de l.Air (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Dassault Flamant (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Dassault Flamant (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Dassault Flamant (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Morane Saulnier Alcryon (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Fouga Zephyr (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Fouga Zephyr (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Fouga Zephyr (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Breguet Atlanric NG (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Breguet Atlanric NG (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
We would like to thank Madamme Catherine Derenne-Tchakotine from AJPS for providing press facilities.