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Urs Schnyder |
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Urs Schnyder |
This year the Air Day profited from the exceptional summer weather. Except for a few small and scattered morning clouds, it was blue sky country the whole day. And it was hot. In fact almost too hot, as the speaker reminded the audience every 15 Minutes to drink enough, wear a hat and protect the children from the heat.
For the six hour duration of the airshow the Navy had prepared an attractive program, even though some of the planned participants didn’t show up. The Battle of Britain Flight set their Dakota but no Spitfires which were no doubt saved for the big flypast in London.
For this report I have grouped similar subjects together, ignoring the sequence of the displays.
The exception is of course the final assault display.
Visitors
The Lithuanian Air Force is not often seen outside its own country so it was a pleasant surprise that they sent 3 aircraft for the static display.Another rare guest was the Quatar Emiri Air Force that sent one of its Hercules for the static display.
The Globemaster III of the US Air Force is perhaps a more familiar sight as it has taken part in the static park of the Air Day a few times already. The same can’t be said for the US Navy’s P-8 Poseidon and the German Marineflieger’s P-3C Orion. The static park is also the place to discover special paint schemes that are applied to different aircraft.
Alenia C-27J Lithuanian Air Force (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
L-39 Albatros Lithuanian Air Force (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Mi-8 Lithuanian Air Force (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
P-8A Poseidon U.S. Navy (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
NH90 NFH Netherlands Navy (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
NH90 NFH Netherlands Navy (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
P-3C Orion German Marine (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
C-130J-30 Hercules Quatar Emiri Air Force (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Canada
A rare visitor was the Canadian Air Force that took part in the flying program with their specially painted CF-18 Hornet that celebrates 60 years of NORAD. Their supporting Hercules meanwhile was part of the static park.
CF-18 Hornet Canadian Air Force (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
CF-18 Hornet Canadian Air Force (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
CF-18 Hornet Canadian Air Force (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
CF-18 Hornet Canadian Air Force (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
CF-18 Hornet Canadian Air Force (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
CF-18 Hornet Canadian Air Force (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
CC-130J-30 Hercules Canadian Air Force (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Helicopters
The Gazelle that served in the Navy’s Sharks display team was represented by two machines in RAF colours.
The only flying Bristol Sycamore in the world belongs to the Red Bull company. This was displayed for the first time at an Air Day, while the same company’s Bölkow Bo 105 gave its outstanding aerobatic display. This also was a first at an Air Day.
The Chinook is not quite as agile as the Bo105, but it is surprising what kind of manoeuvres can be flown with this big machine. It has now served the RAF for 38 years and is still going to add another few years before retirement.
Gazelle HT.2 Royal Air Force colours (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Gazelle HT.2 Royal Air Force colours (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Bristol 171 Sycamore (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Bristol 171 Sycamore (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Bölkow Bo 105 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Chinook HC.6A Royal Air Force (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Chinook HC.6A Royal Air Force (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Chinook HC.6A Royal Air Force (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Aerobatics
Richard Goodwin in his Pitts Special was the only civilian aerobatic pilot at this year’s Air Day.
No strangers to the Air Day are the Royal Jordanian Falcons who are a strong supporter of UK airshows. With their Extra 300 they must be one of the most cost effective teams of any air force.
The Red Arrows don’t need any introduction. This time the weather permitted them to do the full show since there were no clouds that could limit the height of the display.
Pitts Special S-2S, Rich Goodwin (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Pitts Special S-2S, Rich Goodwin (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Royal Jordanian Falcons (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Royal Jordanian Falcons (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Royal Jordanian Falcons (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Royal Jordanian Falcons (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Red Arrows (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Red Arrows (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Red Arrows (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Red Arrows (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Red Arrows (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
F-16 Fighting Falcon
It was the first time in eight years that there were three F-16 displaying at an Air Day. And it has to be said that they still manage to impress with their performance.
The Greek team called Zeus did the whole display with the conformal fuel tanks in place. This time they came with a camouflaged aircraft instead of their colourful display machine.
The Danish F-16 had the national flag painted on its vertical tail surfaces which is a pleasant change from the low visibility grey these machines are normally painted in.
Interesting about the Belgian Machine is the fact that it is labelled as Belgian Air Force, when they always say that they don’t have an air force but an air component only. As expected, the Belgian display was not just featuring the most colourful aircraft, but also did a fantastic display. I have yet to see something like that from more modern planes like the Eurofighter for example.
F-16C Block 52+, Zeus, Hellenic Air Force Major Georgios Papadakis (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
F-16C Block 52+, Zeus, Hellenic Air Force Major Georgios Papadakis (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
F-16A of ESK727, Royal Danish Air Force, Captain Troels Dehli (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
F-16A of ESK727, Royal Danish Air Force, Captain Troels Dehli (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
F-16A of ESK727, Royal Danish Air Force, Captain Troels Dehli (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
F-16A Belgian Air Force, Captain Stefan Darte (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
F-16A Belgian Air Force, Captain Stefan Darte (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
F-16A Belgian Air Force, Captain Stefan Darte (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
F-16A Belgian Air Force, Captain Stefan Darte (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
F-16A Belgian Air Force, Captain Stefan Darte (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Historic
The Hawker Sea Hawk got a rare outing into the static park this year.
A good idea was the display of the Mig-15 and the Hawker Sea Fury that did some formation flights/dogfights together. It was also revealed last year, that the famous Mig-15 kill by a Sea Fury was not scored by Lieutenant Carmichael but by Sub-Lieutenant Brian Ellis.
No Naval display would be complete without the Fairey Swordfish, one of the most successful naval aircraft that even survived its replacement in service. The final flypast with the crew in the rear standing to attention must be the most photographed of them all.
As already mentioned, the announced Spitfires of the Battle of Britain Flight didn’t make it to the Air Day. Instead the flights Dakota paid a visit. One actually wonders why it doesn’t appear more than it does, even though it is not from the Battle of Britain period, but neither is the Lancaster.
Hawker Sea Hawk FGA6 Royal Navy (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Hawker Sea Fury and Mig-15UTI dogfighting (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Hawker Sea Fury and Mig-15UTI dogfighting (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Mig-15 UTI of the Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron in the colours of Yuri Gagarin (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Hawker Sea Fury T.20 Royal Navy Historic Flight (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Fairey Swordfish, Royal Navy Historic Flight (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Fairey Swordfish, Royal Navy Historic Flight (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Douglas Dakota III of the Battle of Britain Flight (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Douglas Dakota III of the Battle of Britain Flight (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Douglas Dakota III of the Battle of Britain Flight (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Aeronavale
A staunch supporter of the International Air Day for many years, the Marine Nationale this year sent no less than six aircraft. The Lynx HAS4 of 34 Flottille with a special paint job of a Dragon on a checkerboard was to be found in the static display. The other five aircraft started the display as a large formation before breaking off into pairs or single in the case of the Falcon.
The Rafales therefore represented the only modern fixed wing carrier based aircraft of the whole Air Day. Maybe next year they will be sharing the sky with the Royal Navy’s new carrier fighter.
Lynx HAS4 of Flotille 34 Marine National France (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Special artwork on the Lynx of Marine National France (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Formation Flypast of Marine National France (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
CM.175 Zéphyr, Marine (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Falcon 50M Marine (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Dassault Rafale Marine (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Dassault Rafale Marine (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Dassault Rafale Marine (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Dassault Rafale Marine (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Navy
The Air Day was opened by a flypast of the Navy Balbo according to the commentator, the Sea Fury, a Sea King and two Wildcats.
Right after this flypast we saw the last ever flying display of a Sea King helicopter, as the last examples are now being retired. After the Sea King it was the Wildcats turn to show off its capabilities with the help of some pyrotechnics.
And finally the last display item of the day, the Navy’s commando assault. Two Hawks for ground attack runs, two Wildcats as gunships and two Merlins that airlifted in the troops against the bad guys. All that with a lot of pyros. In fact you could feel the heat from the explosions despite the high temperatures.
The Balbo as announced by the speaker (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Sea King ASaC.7 Royal Navy (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Sea King ASaC.7 Royal Navy (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Westland Wildcat HMA.2 Royal Navy (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Westland Wildcat HMA.2 Royal Navy (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Merlin HC.3 in the final commando set piece (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Westland Wildcat HMA.2 Royal Navy (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Hawk T.1 simulating ground attack (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Merlin HC.3 airlifting motor transport (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Merlin HC3 abseil troops (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The wall of fire caused by the hawks attack (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
And the aftermath (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Final parade of the involved helicopters (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Again, a really good Air Day. The weather was fantastic and the display items well balanced. There were only two things I missed. The Royal Navy’s own carrier fighter, and the playing of the “Rule Britannia” at the close of the show when the commando helicopters sweep in for the last time.
My thanks go to the Royal Navy for arranging press facilities.