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Text: |
Chakrit Samithinan & Michael E. Fader |
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Pictures: |
Chakrit Samithinan & Sakpinit Promthep |
Intro
Every aviation photographer is happy when experiencing sunshine from morning until evening. But if the photographer happens to be in Bangkok, he will be surprised because the air in Bangkok is clouded in smog which makes ist very difficult to obtain good and clear pictures.
In spite of this, the team of Chakrit Samithinan and Sakpinit Promthep were able to shoot some very good pictures, particularly on the practice day which this year fell on the Thursday. The drawback was that the incoming aircrafts from the other air bases could not be captured on that day.
Training Day (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
Lockheed C-130 Hercules of the 601 Sqn. (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
Lockheed C-130 Hercules of the 601 Sqn. (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
Air Asia (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
Children Day
The Children Day is an old tradition in Thailand. Each year, on the second Saturday in January, all bases of the Royal Thai Air Force will be opened to the public and current and ancient aircrafts of the RTAF will be shown both on the ground and some of the current models in the air. The logistical effort to do this is quite remarkable. For example, the Lockheed C-130 Hercules of Wing 601stationed at Don Muang will need to be flown to other Thai air bases such as RTAFB Chaing Mai in the North, RTAFB Khorat and RTAFB UdonThani in the Northeast, RTAFB Surat Thane in the South well as some other air bases. On the other hand, each of these air bases will send an aircraft to RTAFB Don Muang from which this report originates.
Police Casa CN-265 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
Opening flypast of the F-16A from 403 Sqn. (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
Fairchild AU-23A Peacemaker (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
Fairchild AU-23A Peacemaker (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
Fairchild AU-23A Peacemaker (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
Fairchild AU-23A Peacemaker (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
Fairchild AU-23A Peacemaker (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
Fairchild AU-23A Peacemaker (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
Aerial Dispaly Program
The flying program is quite unusual since it is executed in several blocks with the time in between being allocated to the civilian traffic operating at Don Muang which is the second international airport servicing Bangkok. Some low-cost airlines are stationed at Don Muang, such as Nok Air, Lion Air, Air Asia and a few smaller airlines. On Children Day, they have to wait during the RTAF aerial displays until the display block has ended.
The flying program is each year very similar. A low-flying F-16A from Wing 4 in Khorat opens the show to be followed by three AU-23 Peacemaker aircrafts which are streaming the three colours of the Thai flag into the sky. Thereafter, two General Dynamics F-16 from the RTAFB Khorat demonstrated an aerial battle with one of the new KAI T-50TH Golden Eagle from the Thakli RTAFB. Calling it an aerial battle is slightly far-fetched since they were mainly flying in tight circles in order not to lose sight of each other in the smog. Towards the end of the demo, they executed a few mock attacks on the airfield with some pyrotechnics being exploded from the ground.
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
General Dynamics F-16 Falcon (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
General Dynamics F-16 Falcon(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
KAI T-50TH Golden Eagle (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
KAI T-50TH Golden Eagle (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
General Dynamics F-16 Falcon (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
General Dynamics F-16 Falcon (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
KAI T-50TH Golden Eagle (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
KAI T-50TH Golden Eagle (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
General Dynamics F-16 Falcon (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
General Dynamics F-16 Falcon (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
General Dynamics F-16 Falcon (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
An Eurocopter EC-725 from Wing 202 then showed the abseiling of some soldiers and the rescue of a downed pilot. The demonstration of the EC-725 created an unwanted sideshow because loose grass between the runway and the tarmac was blown on to the taxiway and the parking position. Only after a suction cleaning machine had cleared all the grass were the two incoming General Dynamics F-16 Falcons and the KAI T-50TH able to taxi to their final position.
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
Saab Gripen
A further part of the aerial display saw the Saab JAS-39 Gripen of Wing 701 RTAFB Surat Thani giving a spirited solo display over the Don Muang airport. The pilot demonstrated the agility of this plane with tight turns but also showed the fast- and slow speed abilitirs of the Gripen.
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
Trainer
After a further interruption in the show, trainer aircrafts from RTAFB Kamphaeng Saen with Pilatus PC-9 and CT-4E showed some formation fly-bys. This concluded the morning show but a repeat performance of all the flying aircrafts was held in the afternoon in worsening light conditions.
Pilatus PC-9 (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
Pilatus PC-9 (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
Pilatus PC-9 (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
Pilatus PC-9 (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
NZAI CT-4 (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
NZAI CT-4 (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
NZAI CT-4 (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
NZAI CT-4 (Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
Static
Apart from the aerial display, the public could also view some active and ancient aircrafts of the Royal Thai Air Force on the ground. However, the static park was visibly smaller than in previous years. Among the still active aircrafts were a Northrop F-5TH Super Tigris, a Saab JAS-39 Gripen, a Dornier Alpha Jet as well as an ATR-72, a Basler BT-67, an Airbus A340 and of course a Lockheed C-130 Hercules from Wing 601. In addition, a Sikorsky S-92 from Wing 202 was presented for the firt time.
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
KAI T-50TH Golden Eagle (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
KAI T-50TH Golden Eagle(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
KAI T-50TH Golden Eagle (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
General Dynamics F-16 Falcon (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
New was also the fencing in of the active RTAF aircrafts but the children were still able to climb around some of the ancient aircrafts. The active aircrafts were in the past years unprotected and consequently suffered minor damage by careless children.
Grumman F8F-1 Bearcat (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
North American F-86F Sabre (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
ATR-72 (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Sikorsky S-92 (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Saab JAS-39 Gripen (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Airbus A-340 (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Saab Ereeye (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Dornier Alpha Jet (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Aerosuperbatic Wing Walking Team
All in all, the Children Day 2020 was again a popular event. We can only hope that the weather conditions will improve in future years, meaning waether without the excessive smog which plagued the event of the past two years.
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)