SimHQ.com - Air Combat Zone - Feature: AirPower05

…as usual were the aerobatics display teams performing on fast Jets or Jet-Trainers. Careful selection of the air show weekend and good international contacts once again allowed the organizers to get five major European teams scheduled and also some of the less well-known ones. These included amongst others the Red Arrows from the United Kingdom; the Frecce Tricolori from Italy; Patrulla Aquila from Spain; the Patrouille de France; and the Patrouille Swiss.

The philosophy and tradition behind the various display groups is as different as the color on their planes. For example Swiss pilots can only devote 30% of their yearly flight hours to the team, while still flying in active duty on their standard combat jets the other time. They are also the only team I've seen using flares in their display.

On the opposite hand there are the Red Arrows or the Frecce Tricolori who can draw from a large pool of volunteers and permanently place their team-members on display duty, in case of the Arrows even including a winter training in Cyprus.

What all of them have in common is the dedication to precision and beautifully choreographed aerial formations and maneuvers.

This year, a very special mention has to go out to another "sort of" display team: Austria's very own "Draken Six".

Remember about the third jubilee I mentioned earlier? The Drakens were acquired by the Austrian Air Force in 1988 - yet its first prototype flew exactly 50 years ago, when our republic was still in its infancy. It was sold to Finland and Denmark, obviously also used in Sweden where it was built. Yet all these nations have already retired their planes, which places Austria as the last country to operate these uniquely shaped "Double-Delta" Fighters. The cells have reached the limits of their structural lifetimes and need to be retired.

To cut a long story short…the traditional six-ship Draken Display at Airpower05 is likely to have been the last display of its kind in the world. The Draken served us well — 17 years without a single loss of a plane — and we'll miss him, even though the future holds the exciting new Eurofighter Typhoon. No other planes have ever embodied Austrian Air Force Identity better than our Saab OE-35J Drakens.

Go To Page 5

Click here to go to top of this page.