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Urs Schnyder |
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Urs Schnyder |
The
public day on Saturday started very early. The gates opened at 7 in the
morning and the people started pouring into the base.
At
7:30 the first participants arrived already. These were a group of
ultralights. They consist basically of a parachute and an engine in a
backpack. The big propeller is enclosed by a cage to protect the flyer
in the case of a mishap. At the same time falconers were chasing away
the birds that were still around the airfield. This was quite a
contrast. An ancient art of hunting, at an airshow where the most modern
aircraft are flying.
The
first aircraft were scheduled to start flying at 9:15 am. However, there
were some program points before that. First at half past eight was the
parade of the emergency vehicles down the main runway. Once they had
cleared the field, some parachutists gave a demonstration of their
skills.
Then a brass band marched in and played some music. The next item was a
real first for me at an airshow. A military chaplain said a prayer
before the chief of the air force addressed the public.
After the address of the CAF the flying program started. As I already did in part 1, I will not go through the day in sequence but instead present the different items in the program that were not covered in part 1.
Tiger
Moth
The Tiger Moth ZS-BGN with c/n 84864 is an ex SAAF aircraft, T6523. It
was rebuild in 1993 at Rand airport with parts from unidentified other
aircraft. There are still several Tiger Moths flying in South Africa.
Sky
Class DC-3
Sky Class Aviation is a South African charter company that operates
several aircraft. Besides modern Jets, they also operate DC-3 and DC-4
aircraft. After the last war several Dakotas from the SAAF were handed
over to South African Airways. It is in the colours of one of these that
the aircraft displaying is painted. In everyday operations it is today
taking tourists on low level safari flights or does scenic flights
around Johannesburg.
De Havilland Tiger Moth (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
De Havilland Tiger Moth (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
De Havilland Tiger Moth (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
De Havilland Tiger Moth (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Douglas DC-3 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Douglas DC-3 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Douglas DC-3 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Douglas DC-3 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Aerobatics
There were quite
a few aerobatic pilots displaying at the airshow.
Andrew Blackwood-Murray is a very experienced pilot with over 14'000
hours flying for the SAAF and SAA as well as different aerobatic planes
Flying a Zlin 50 he is sponsored by Nashua.
Nigel Hopkins this year displayed in his new Extra 330SC sponsored by
Porsche, after the previous MX2 broke up in flight. He is the head of
training of the SAA Airbus A320 fleet and has more than 17'000 hours
experience in different aircraft.
Sonsored by his employer Absolute Aviation who are the Beech and Cessna
agents in South Africa, Jason Beamish is flying an Extra 300. Despite
being only 27 years of age, he has nevertheless already flown in 60
different aircraft.
The Raptors are an aerobatic team that don't have any sponsor, The team was formed three years ago and are now trained by some of the most experienced aerobatic pilots. All the pilots pay their expenses themselves and train and fly in theit spare time. They are flying the Vans RV. The RV7 has side by side seating, while the RV8 has traditonal fore and aft seating.
Extra 330SC (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Mustang and Trojan
Seeing the
Mustang in the air for the first time one notes the flashy non military
paint scheme. The engine sounds poweerful, but not quite like a Merlin.
Once it lands and taxies past, you can see that it is a Thunder Mustang
which is actually a scaled down replica but without the "wrong" engine
profile one associates with such scale reproductions. In fact, the only
thing that gives the game away is the size of the pilot in relation to
the whole aircraft.
One
aircraft I didn't expect to see in South Africa was a T-28 Trojan, for
the simple reason that it was never flown by the South African Air
Force. This particular aircraft is owned by Chris Briers, a very
experienced pilot with over 10'000 hours in his logbook. This of course
was reflected in the display that he gave.
Vampire
The Vampire Trainer of the SAAF Museums Historic Flight gave an
attractive display. The pilot showed that even with a less powered
aircraft then present generation jets, it is possible to do a spirited
display that not only pleases the crowd but also the photographers who
were attending the show in great numbers.
North American Trojan (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
North American Trojan (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Mango/Silver Falcons
Mango is a low cost
carrier in South Africa. They are one of the sponsors of the Airshow so it
is fitting that they take part in the show itself. There is some Formation
flying together with the Silver Falcons. Incredibly, by the time the Mango
display took part, there were thick clouds forming up so the backdrop is
more likely to European sky than to the usual blue.
Albatross
After they were retired from SAAF service in 1993, some Albatross ended
up in the civil register. One such is ex SAAF Nr. 892 which is flying
under the logo of Kingdom Air, a local South African charter company,
even if this aircraft is not listed as being part of their present
fleet.
Flying Lions amd Torre
Aerobatic teams
The flying Lions aerobatic team was founded 16 years ago by Scully
Levin. He is now 69 years of age and has about 28000 flying hours. The
rest of the team are Ellis Levin, Arnie Meneghenny and Sean Thackwray.
They display their 76 years old aircraft almost every weekend during
airshow season.
Even
further back goes the founding of the Torre Team started 32 years ago by
Scully Levin. He gathered a team of top class aerobatic pilots and has
impressed the crouds ever since with their precision aerobatics. The
team is supported by Torre Industries.
Having the same pilots for two different teams means of course that
ferry pilots are needed in those instances where both teams display at
the same location, as they did at Zwartkop.
Piaggo Albatross (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Piaggo Albatross (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Piaggo Albatross (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Piaggo Albatross (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Piaggo Albatross (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
North American Harvard (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
North American Harvard (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
North American Harvard (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
North American Harvard (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
North American Harvard (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
SAAF
C-130 Hercules
After a few fly pasts the Hercules landed and two crew members got out
of the aircraft. They then pretended to push and pull the aircraft
backwards which they of course achieved with the help of a bit of
reverse trust of the engines. This however was not obvious to the
audience. It was an unusual act that I have never seen before and it
left some impression with the audience. The aircraft then took off again
and disappeared only to appear from behind the audience right out of the
setting African sun. Once it passed the crowd line it started climbing
and while doing so fired off flares which were illuminated by the
setting sun. Just beautiful.
Silver Falcons
During the two day event, the Falcons flew several displays, the last
one on Saturday, immediately after the C-130 display. As the sun was
already very low, this gave special lighting to some of the show.
It started out as we know it from other teams like the Thunderbirds. The
pilots marching to their aircraft, doing the pre-flight check, getting
strapped in and then taxi to the runway in numerical order. All this
takes place in front of the crowd of course. And then the display
illuninated by the setting sun.
To sum
up, I was quite impressed by the whole airshow. Unusually there was some
cloud during the afternoon, the first time in a week. However, nothing
to mention if you are used to european weather.
My thanks go again to Russel Dixon and the SAAF Museum Photographers
Club for letting me join them in their enclosure.