Part 2
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Urs Schnyder |
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Pictures: |
Urs Schnyder |
Statics
There were a few aircraft on static exhibition. The Agusta A109 LUH was part of a bigger exhibition about the Air Force showing Radar equipment and other aspects of the service. Taken out of the museums hangar was the F-86 Sabre, which was a very welcome sight sitting in the sun, inviting photography. The Denel AH-2 Rooivalk is an attack helicopter developed in South Africa. And finally the Boeing 707 and the Casa 235 had been moved from behind the big hangar to the front where it can be seen properly.
Agusta A109 LUH (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Canadair F.6 Sabre (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Denel AH-2 Rooivalk (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Denel AH-2 Rooivalk (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Boeing 707 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Pilot Makers
The De Havilland Vampire was one of the first jets introduced into many airforces. Like the successful Mosquito, De Havilland used wood to a great extend in building this aircraft, As the step from piston engined trainers to jets was still a big one for prospective fighter pilots, a trainer was needed. So the Vampire trainer was born by simply modifying the fuselage to accomodate two pilots side by side. The need for ejection seats meant that the fuselage to canopy junction looks a bit makeshift. Nevertheless, a lot of pilots graduated on the Vampire trainer before moving on to first line fighters. The example flying at the airshow belongs to the museum, but there is another privately owned example now flying in South Africa.
By comparison the Bae Hawk is state of the art for modern trainers with the South African examples also having a ground attack capability.The pilots are no longer sitting side by side but in tandem as the philosopy in training has changed. An axial engine also means that the fuselage can be designed much slimmer than was the case with radial engines as in the Vampire.
Most of the South African Hawks are painted in a low viz grey, but fortunately the one very colourful example with the South African Flag painted all over was flying at the airshow.
Two Alouette 2 helicoptes gave a display with close formatin flying. Like the Vampire, the museums Alouette 2 is one of the first generation types.
De Havilland Vampire Trainer (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
De Havilland Vampire Trainer (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
De Havilland Vampire Trainer (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
De Havilland Vampire Trainer (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
De Havilland Vampire Trainer (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
De Havilland Vampire Trainer (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
BaE Hawk Mk 120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
BaE Hawk Mk 120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
BaE Hawk Mk 120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
BaE Hawk Mk 120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
BaE Hawk Mk 120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
BaE Hawk Mk 120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
BaE Hawk Mk 120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
BaE Hawk Mk 120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
BaE Hawk Mk 120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Museum Alouette II (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Museum Alouette II (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Aerobatics
There were quite a few civilian aerobatic displays, both with single Aircraft like Nigel Hopkins Extra 330 that is sponsored by Porsche and impossible to overlook in its red colour.
The Puma Energy Flying Lions are flying the North American Harvard. The name Puma has nothing to do with the famous sports outfitter, but is an energy company mostly known for its petrol stations all over the country. Since the Harvard has a much greater weight than modern aerobatic aircraft, it won’ t do any crazy manouevering, Having said that, the display is somehow more elegant and the figures nicely flowing into each other. Another advantage of the Harvard is its size which makes it easier to spot and take pictures of. This display was definitely one of the highlights of the show.
The Team Torre with ist Pitts Special were in a way the opposite to the Harvard. Very fast, very manoeverable and able to change position and flight attitude in split seconds. The team exists for quite a while now and it does show in ist polished display.
Nigel Hopkins Extra 330 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Nigel Hopkins Extra 330 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Nigel Hopkins Extra 330 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Nigel Hopkins Extra 330 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Harvard Puma Energy Flying Lions (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Harvard Puma Energy Flying Lions (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Harvard Puma Energy Flying Lions (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Harvard Puma Energy Flying Lions (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Harvard Puma Energy Flying Lions (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Harvard Puma Energy Flying Lions (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Harvard Puma Energy Flying Lions (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Harvard Puma Energy Flying Lions (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Harvard Puma Energy Flying Lions (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Team Torre Pitts Special (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Team Torre Pitts Special (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Team Torre Pitts Special (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Team Torre Pitts Special (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Team Torre Pitts Special (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Team Torre Pitts Special (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
50 years of the Silver Falcons
The Silver Falcons started on the Impala and on that aircrafts retirement changed to the Pilatus PC-7 on which they still fly today.
The team is composed of five pilots who for the first time all have the same rank. For their jubilee year they had prepared something spezial, a formation with the Saab Gripen. Unfortunately this pairing only happened during the Friday rehearsal but was unfortunately not done during the show on Saturday. The team gave the best display ever and the commentator was really very enthusiastic about it. In Fact he made some jokes about the No, 5 solo pilot still being a batchelor and asked the ladies to come forward to the tower to meet him, which they did.
After landing there was a roaring welcome for the team by the audience and people were queueing to take pictures with the team.
The Silver Falcons (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Leader Major Mark Gentles (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
No. 2 Major James Wilcox (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
No. 3 Major Sivu Tangana(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
No. 4 Major Wendy Badenhorst (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
No. 5 Major Omphile Mutloane "The Batchelor" (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Silver Falcons (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Not just the Thunderbirds can fly close together (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Silver Falcons (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Silver Falcons crossover (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Silver Falcons and Gripen (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Silver Falcons and Gripen (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The No. 5 going trough the middle (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Dirty roll (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Silver Falcons (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Silver Falcons final break(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Final runup in front of the crowd (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Carrying "the batchelor" to the crowd (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
OK Girls now we know what to beat as the first female Falcons team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
At this point I’d like to thank my friends from the SAAF Museum Photographers Club for their hospitality in their enclosure and to Russel Dixon for his help.