Czech International Air Fest

Words Remco Donselaar
Photography Michael van der Mee and Remco Donselaar

On the 10th and 11th September 2005 Brno-Turany airport hosted the annual airshow of the Czech Republic. The last couple of years this show was held in the first weekend of September but due to competition of the shows at Koksijde and Rivolto, the show was moved one week ahead. Brno-Turany is situated South-East of Brno, the second-largest city in the Czech Republic. It's a civil airport wich opened in 1958 and has al small military history. From 1982-1992 it was property of the MoD and civil traffic was limited. The L-29 was based here and some old shelters are still reminding to this period. Nowadays it's a full civil airport for mainly vacation charters to many destinations in Europe.

The airshow is organised by the Czech Airshow Agency and is a mainly militairy show, supported by the Czech Air Force. Because Brno is situated in the middle of Europe you can expect both aircraft from West and East Europe. This mix of aircraft makes the show a very interesting one. This was the main reason we travelled to Brno to visit this show for both days and a part of the arrival day. Because the sun was facing you the whole day at the public area, we decided to go outside the airport and find some good spots at the opposite of the runway. Therefore no shots were made of the static aircraft, some of these aircraft will be reviewed in the arrivals section.

On Friday the 9th most participants arrived for the airshow and static show. This day was also a rehearsal day for some of the flying displays. As we arrived around noon we already missed some nice participants. This day was the day to make the best pictures of the whole weekend due to the weather wich was sunny during arrivals, but cloudly during both show days.

Highlights of the arrivals were two A-10A Thunderbolts from Spangdahlem, a Romanian C-130B Hercules in a great colorscheme and two Jaguars from RAF Coltishall. The arrival of the F-16D Block 52+ from the Hellenic Air Force was the best of the afternoon with a low pass before finally getting in. All these aircraft arrived for the static show. Also two F-16AM from Kleine Brogel, Belgium arrived but they went home later in the afternoon. The reason was the news of the fatal crash of one of their squadron members over the North Sea earlier that day.

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Czech Air Force

Both days started with the presentation of the Czech Air Force to the public. The aircraft currently in service were presented in five formations of three or two aircraft (see above). At the Sunday the L-39's were not present in the fly-by. A total of five different brand new Gripens were seen in the fly pasts both days. One of them, the display of the Saturday was put in static later. These five Gripens were not bad for one show, because the Czech Air Force has a total of 14 pieces leased for the period of 10 years.

One of the Gripens breaked out the formation and started a solo display! This display was a very great performance however it seemed to be the same as the Swedish Gripen display. Too bad it was very dark weather during it's display both days. The second solo display of the Czech Air Force was the L-159. With some low passes and aerobatic manouvres he showed his capabilities.

The Czech Air Force showed also two helicopter displays. The first was a W-3A Sokol, a Polish built helicopter by PZL. This type isn't seen often outside Poland or the Czech Republik, in the Netherlands it was seen at Gilze Rijen 2003, together with a Mi-24, wich then performed a display with orange smoke. Also in Brno the Mi-24 performed a display. This time without orange smoke wich was much better. The display was at very low altitude and because we were standing at the opposite of the runway nice pictures were taken. Remarkable is that the Mi-24 wich performed the display at the Sunday, had the same serial as the Mi-8 wich was seen the day before.

Russian Team Strizhi (Swifts)

The Swifts are one of the two major display teams of the Russian Air Force. With their five MiG 29 fighter aircraft they are a rare sight at Western Europe airshows. For us it was also the first time we saw them performing.

Actually the show excists of two different displays. A solo display of the double seater number 01 and seperate from that later on the day, the full display of the whole team. Also in this display there is room for a solo display of number 05. The show itself was a little bit dissapointing, it seems they had to stick to more tightened rules compared to their displays in Russia. There they even perform above the public, this isn't allowed here due to strict safety rules. Highlight of the show was the first pass in front of the public with the flares. Furthermore some low passes were made to complete the show.

Other participants

Besides the Russian Swifts, only one display team was present at Brno. This was the Asas de Portugal with two Alpha Jets. This team is set up again in 2004, and 2005 was the first year with some displays at large airshow events in Europe, like Zeltweg and Brno. It almost looked like they are sticked to each other while flying, such a high level of formation flying it was!

Just like Kecskemét one month earlier, Serbia and Montenegro was present with three different types in the flying display. The Galeb, Super Galeb and Orao did some excellent displays. This time the Galeb was in a green colorscheme, the Galeb with the red-white-blue color scheme was showed at the static display.

Because the Czech Air Force is a potential buyer of the C-27J Spartan, wich is in fact an 'upgraded' G.222, the protoype performed his capabilties. Not only the looks of the aircraft are almost the same as the G.222, also the display is just amazing as we know of the Italian display, wich could be seen for the last time in 2005.

The star of the solo displays however, was the Slovak MiG 29. With a stunning colorscheme, some low passes and manouvres this was something to look out for during the second almost cloudly day. The show was completed by an Austrian Air Force Pc-6 and some civil participants like the Flying Bulls and Team 2000. One team got us quiet during it's display. This was a demonstration of four gilders in formation, we had never seen such a great but silent piece of formation flying.

Looking back at 3 day's in Brno we think it was one of the better shows of the year and worthwile the trip. This due to the number of participating countries, the presence of the Russian Swifts, a MiG 29 from Slovakia and last but not least the brand new Czech Gripen.