As
usual there will be trips to all the major European shows over the summer
months, plus trips to exercises, deployments etc. We intend to run at least
a couple of longer trips for base visits during the week and these should
include a number of the more interesting Eastern European countries such as
Poland, Czech Republic etc. Details of these trips will be announced as soon
dates have been arranged.
More trips will be added as and
when details are available, so please bookmark this page and come back regularly!
Please
e-mail me direct PaulTouchdown@aol.com
if you would like any further details of any upcoming trip, or you can speak
to me directly on the 'phone by calling 01638 510756.
All deposit cheques should be made payable to Touchdown and sent to:
Mr. P. Coppin,
18 Worlington Road,
Mildenhall,
Suffolk. IP28 7DY.
Remaining
Trips for This Summer
* Please scroll down for logs, reports
& photos of this year's successful tours *
Czech &
Slovak bases plus major air shows at Hradec-Kralove & Beauvechain 28th
August-1st September:
Now a 5 day trip, which is longer than originally
planned, with visits to bases and museums on the way to the Czech International
Air Fair at Hradec- Kralove. Leaving the U.K. on the morning of Wednesday
August 28th, the itinerary for this interesting foray into central Europe
is now as follows:
Weds 28th August - drive through Germany on our
way to a hotel stop east of Prague via a break to check out AMC action at
Frankfurt/Rhein Main en route.
Thurs 29th August - we intend to visit the Czech
AF base at Caslav (MiG-21s & L-159s) in the morning and Namest (L-159s) in
the afternoon to watch any flying action taking place. Time should also allow
visits to a couple of museums whilst in the country and the technical school
at Brno. As we drive south into the Slovak Republic we will also visit Bratislava
airport for the based Police Mi-2 and Mi-8 choppers.
Fri 30th August - almost the whole day spent
in the Slovak Republic to pay visits to the bases at Malacky (active L-29s
plus wfu Su-22s & Su-25s) and Sliac (a large number of active & stored MiG-21s
plus MiG-29s & L-39s). We also intend to take in Trencin and Piestany should
time allow.
Sat 31st August - CIAF 2002 at Hradec Kralove.
The very first news of this year's CIAF participants can be found here: http://www.geocities.com/airshowoutlook/ciaf2002.htm
or you can stay in touch with the latest developments at the Official Organiser's
site at: http://www.airshow.cz/en/ciaf/ciaf.html
Sun 1st September - this year's Belgian AF show
at Beauvechain promises to attract an interesting array of visitors, as it
did when hosting in 1999. Returning home to the UK late on the Sunday evening
in plenty of time for anybody needing to work on the following Monday morning.
You can stay in touch with the latest expected guests for the Beauvechain
'show at: http://www.geocities.com/airshowoutlook/bafairshow2002.htm
The cost of this trip is set to be good value at around £300 so please
call for full details and to secure your place before the seats all go.
Romorantin Open Day & "Rafale Hunt" 22nd/23rd September:
Sun 22nd September
- A
French Air Force "Meeting de l'Air" at a fairly unusual and seldom-open Base
Aerienne with Romorantin being more well-known for its large fleet of based
Adl'A gliders and Jodel tugs! These will doubtless be on full public view
at the French equivalent of Syerston, with participation also confirmed by
Mirage 2000, Cartouche Doree and the Patrouille de France making it a full-scale
event. We also plan on visiting other Adl'A bases such as Creil and Chateaudun
en route either to or from the 'show. We then drive North that evening into
Brittany for a hotel stop. Mon
23rd September -
should be an interesting day to be at Landivisiau! A dozen Jaguars from St.Dizier
are migrating here from their home base while that plays host to "Co-operative
Key 2002" to fly with the based Super Etendards. The carrier Charles de Gaulle
is in home port until October so the full complement of 12F's Rafales should
also be flying well on this recently-formed unit. We will also visit Lanveoc
for their eclectic range of aircraft such as Rallyes, CAP 10s, Lynxes, Super
Frelons and Dauphins. Price for this interesting jaunt is £130, with £20 required
as a deposit.
"Co-operative Key 2002" at St.Dizier - 25th/26th September:
What promises to be one of the most interesting exercises,
in terms of sheer variety of participants, of 2002 is starting to look like
a "must do" for any self-respecting military enthusiast. With aircraft taking
part as rare as Bulgarian AF Su-25s & Mi-17s, Romanian AF MiG-21 Lancers &
IAR.330 Pumas, Macedonian AF Mi-8s, Greek Mirage 2000s and Turkish F-16s,
St.Dizier really will be the place to be come late September! The list doesn't
end there as other nations sending aviation assets are Croatia, France, Hungary,
Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia etc. for this major 'Partnership for Peace,
exercise. The full list of expected participants can be found here: http://www.btinternet.com/~zola25/coopkey.htm
We will leave the U.K. late on the evening of Tuesday September 24th to be
at St.Dizier for first thing Wednesday morning to spend the day watching activity
at what should be a very busy base in the middle of a major LIVEX. Staying
in a hotel locally, the 'spare' second day will either be used to return to
St.Dizier should this be necessary or, more likely, to spend the morning at
Luxeuil and the afternoon at Nancy-Ochey to watch the based Mirage 2000Ns
& Ds, respectively, launching and recovering. Cost for this two day trip to
eastern France is £130, with £20 as deposit.
Melsbroek-Brussels 28th September:
One for the Herc lovers amongst us! An anniversary open day at the
home of the Belgian AF Hercules unit to mark 30 years in service has been
arranged. Many operators of the venerable workhorse have been invited and
the more exotic users to confirm so far include Algeria and Turkey. Other
aircraft will of course be invited so to stay up-to-date please see: http://www.geocities.com/airshowoutlook/30yearsc130.htm
Price
for this one day out-and-back trip is £70, with £20 required as
a deposit.
Axalp - Swiss Air Power Demo 2nd-3rd October:
A pilgrimage that every self-respecting aviation
buff just HAS to make once in his or her lifetime! Once a year the Swiss AF
open their Axalp Range to the general public to witness their training at
VERY close range some 7,500 feet up in the beautiful Alps. Aircraft in action
will include all current fast jets in the Swiss inventory: F/A-18 Hornets,
F-5E Tigers plus the beautiful Mirage IIIRS. A display by the Patrouille Swiss
and fly-pasts by other aircraft and helicopters such as PC-6s and Alouette
IIIs will go to make this one of the year's most memorable trips. We will
also, of course, pay some visits to various Swiss AF bases including Payerne
and Dubendorf.
This trip will depart on the evening of Monday 30th September and return back
to the U.K. on Friday 4th October: please call for more details.
To see for yourself just how spectacular the action can be please check-out:
http://www.airshowaction.com/swiss01/swiss01_1.html
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"Frisian
Flag 2002" and TLP 2002/5 17th & 18th October:
The 2002 version of "Frisian Flag" is planned to take place at two bases,
Leeuwarden and Twenthe, with some very interesting partcipants invited to
act as opposing forces from the latter. Finnish Hornets, French Rafales, Swedish
Gripens, German F-4Fs & MiG-29s plus USAF A-10As have all been asked to take
part and play this role and, should participation be confirmed, our usual
trip out to Florennes for the 5th TLP of the year will be extended to take
in a day at Twenthe. Leaving Dover late on Weds 16th October, the next day
will be spent at Twenthe and after a hotel stop, the Friday at Florennes for
TLP departures day. Cost is £130 with £20 enough to secure a seat.
For almost daily updates
of activities at Florennes on TLP 2002/4, please see the excellent Florennes
Aviation Society web-site by clicking here