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Air Power 2024 |
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Text: |
Chakrit Samithinan |
Pictures: |
Chakrit Samithinan & Saichol Krai-amat |
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Boeing 787-9
Dreamliner OE-LPM (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Boeing 787-9
Dreamliner OE-LPM (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
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Two
years after the last Airpower event, Airpower 24 was held at the
Hinterstoisser air base in Zeltweg from 6th to 7th September 2024. The
flying display, which is said to be the largest in Europe, saw 49 solo
performers and teams in action. |
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The Horsemen (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
The Horsemen (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
The Horsemen and
the F-35A Lightning II (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
USAF/ANG F-35A Lightning II (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
USAF / ANG F-35A Lightning
II (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
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Looking
at this year’s attractions, it became clear that there were only few new
acts, and there was a remarkable absence of most of the major European
display teams. The Frecce Tricolori, who never missed the Airpower, were
unavailable due to the fact that they only returned from their North
America tour a few days before this year’s event. Apparently, there was
not sufficient time for them to prepare for the trip to Austria. Also
the Red Arrows were unavailable since they were on a Canadian Tour at
the time. This meant that the Patrouille Suisse was the main attraction
with the other two teams in attendance being the Patrulla Aguila and the
Krila Oluje (Wings of Storm) from Croatia. |
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Red Bull flight (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Red Bull flight
of North American
P-51D Mustang OE-EFB, Vought F4U-4 Corsair OE-EAS and Lockheed P-38L
Lightning N25Y (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
North American
T-28B Trojan OE-EEM and North American B-25J Mitchell N6123C (Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat) |
North American
B-25J Mitchell N6123C (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
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Messerschmitt
B0-105 D-HSDM & D-HTDM (Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat) |
Dassault Alpha
Jet OE-FAS & OE-FRB (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Bell AH-1F Cobra
N11FX (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Team Blanix (Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat) |
Czech Flying
Bulls Aerobatics Team (Picture courtesy
toi |
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Czech Flying
Bulls Aerobatics Team and Czeck Gripen Fighter (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Czech Flying
Bulls Aerobatics Team and Czeck Gripen Fighter (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
PZL W3 Sokhol (Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat) |
Czech Gripen
Fighter (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Czech Gripen
Fighter (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
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We
should however not forget the importance Red Bull is playing at each
Airpower since they participated with altogether 27 aircrafts and as
usual put on great shows. New to Airpower were the F-35A expertly flown
by Captain Melanie “MACH”” Kluesner who took over the demo job from
another expert lady pilot, i.e. Captain Kristin “BEO” Wolfe, and the
“Horsemen” team consisting of 3 Mustangs P-51. This allowed the
organizers to include in the program a rare heritage flight of the 3
P-51s together with the F-35A Lightning II. |
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(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Austrian Typhoon (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Austrian Typhoon (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Austrian Typhoon (Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat) |
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Austrian
Eurofighter Typhoon (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Austrian
Eurofighter Typhoon (Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat) |
Spanish Casa
C-101 Aviojet Patrulla Aguila (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Spanish Casa
C-101 Aviojet Patrulla Aguila (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Spanish Casa
C-101 Aviojet Patrulla Aguila (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
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Finnish Air
Force Mc Donnell Douglas FA-18C Hornet (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Finnish Air
Force Mc Donnell Douglas FA-18C Hornet (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Finnish Air
Force Mc Donnell Douglas FA-18C Hornet (Picture courtesy Saichol |
Finnish Air
Force Mc Donnell Douglas FA-18C Hornet (Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat) |
Finnish Air
Force Mc Donnell Douglas FA-18C Hornet (Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat) |
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Another
interesting combination of aircrafts were the 4 aircrafts of the Flying
Bull Aerobatic Team which flew in an interesting vertical formation with
the Czech JAS-39 Gripen. As expected, the Austrian Air Force once again
showed their well-known air police action by two special paint
Eurofighters who forced an intruder, played by an Austrian C-130
Hercules, to land at the airbase. Thereafter the same two Eurofighters
showed a very lively air combat simulation which was loudly applauded by
the local spectators. Among the solo performers, the F/A-18C of the
Finnish Air Force was clearly the most outstanding act which was
supported by lots of flares. Needless to say, the F-35 demo was also
very good and above all new to the Austrian public. Incidentally,
Captain Kluesner piloted one of 4 F-35A Lightnings of the 158th Fighter
Wing from the Vermont Air National Guard based in Burlington VT which
happened to be at the Hinterstoisser air base for the second year
running in order to carry out exercises with the Austrian- and Swiss
Air Forces. |
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German Air Force
Airbus A400M (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
German Air Force
Airbus A400M (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
German Air Force
Airbus A400M (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
German Air Force
Airbus A400M (Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat) |
German
Messerschmitt m2262(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
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German
Eurofighter Typhoon (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
German
Eurofighter Typhoon ((Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat) |
German Airbus
NH.90 (Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat) |
German
Eurocopter Tigre (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
German
Eurocopter Tigre (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
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This
year, the organizers were not as lucky as in 2022 because on the Friday,
the rain which was predicted to cease at 09.00 hours but continued until
13.30 hours which dampened the spirit of the author but not necessarily
of the Austrian public with close to 100’000 people having visited the
show on that day.
For Saturday, the weather
forecast was again good with slightly cloudy skies but in fact, there
was a solid cloud base for most of the morning and the sun only made an
occasional appearance in the afternoon. More importantly however, it was
no longer raining which, according to official figures, encouraged a
total of 150’000 people to attend the show. |
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Swiss Northrop F-5E Tiger
Patroullie Suisse (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Swiss Northrop F-5E Tiger
Patroullie Suisse (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Swiss Northrop F-5E Tiger
Patroullie Suisse (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Swiss Northrop F-5E Tiger
Patroullie Suisse (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Swiss Northrop
F-5E Tiger Patroullie Suisse (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
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Swiss Northrop F-5E Tiger
Patroullie Suisse (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Swiss Northrop F-5E Tiger
Patroullie Suisse (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Swiss Northrop F-5E Tiger
Patroullie Suisse (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Swiss Northrop F-5E Tiger
Patroullie Suisse (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Swiss Northrop
F-5E Tiger Patroullie Suisse (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
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Swiss Northrop F-5E Tiger
Patroullie Suisse (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Swiss Northrop F-5E Tiger
Patroullie Suisse (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Swiss F-18C
Hornet (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Hungarian Gripen
C (Picture courtesy
Toi |
Hungarian Gripen
C (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
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Each
year, the Austria Air Force is responsible for the organization of this
gigantic event and they are doing an excellent job in every respect.
This year, the organization was particularly outstanding since the
traffic problems of the past years did not repeat themselves to the same
extent. Also at the airshow site, the organisation was near perfect and
considering that every visitor can enter the site free of charge, the
facilities offered to the visitors were absolutely outstanding. There
was a small static display of aircrafts at the site but due to the vast
number of people milling around that area, no real attention was given
by the author to the displayed aircrafts. |
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Krila Oluje
Pilatus PC-9 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Krila Oluje
Pilatus PC-9 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Krila Oluje
Pilatus PC-9 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Krila Oluje
Pilatus PC-9 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Greece General
Dynamics F-16C Viper (Picture
courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
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Greece General
Dynamics F-16C Viper (Picture
courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Italian Alenia
C-27J Spartan (Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat) |
Italian Alenia
M-346 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Italian Alenia
M-346 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan) |
Italian Alenia
M-346 (Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat) |
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