Poland’s Prime Aviation Occasion – Beast of an Air Present
Final weekend we attended the Radom Air Present in Poland. This biannual occasion organized on the Warsaw-Radom airport is taken into account probably the most respected Polish worldwide air present, with the Polish Air Drive answerable for making it occur. The present is a vital occasion on the European air present map, and in occasions like these – with the full-scale struggle in Ukraine raging on – it may have develop into an enviornment for NATO to flex its muscle tissues on its Japanese Flank. Did it?
The present additionally supplied a possibility for the Polish MoD to showcase its newest procurement efforts within the space of the air area, and in addition – land area. The latter got here within the type of the K239 Chunmoo, K2 MBT, Abrams MBT, or the M142 HIMARS techniques introduced within the static show. Nevertheless, a number of the newest Polish Armed Forces’ acquisitions have been additionally showcased within the air.
The Polish Air Drive highlights included a parade, showcasing the entire service’s stock (64 plane in whole!), starting from the Air Drive Academy primary coaching property (such because the R44 helicopters, or Diamond DA42s, M-346), by way of the fighter spine (F-16, MiG-29, Su-22), VIP transport property (B737, Gulfstream G550), helicopters (Mi-17, Black Hawk), to complete with the most recent acquisition that the Polish Air Drive made – the KAI FA-50. Regardless of the FA-50’s presence in Radom, the jets have been nonetheless flown by South Korean pilots, with the Polish pilots within the again seat. Plainly the coaching course of for the FA-50 to be totally adopted continues to be going to take a while.
Notably, this was the primary airshow look of a Polish FA-50. The MiG-29s of the Polish Air Drive are nonetheless in operation, not the entire airframes have been handed over to Ukraine.
The dynamic show portion of the present was fairly wealthy, with just about the entire European solos showing within the skies over Radom. The host nation showcased its F-16 Tiger Demo Staff, and in addition, which is fascinating, a novelty: the M-346 solo show. The M-346 routine was surprisingly fascinating, and it most likely goals to interchange the previous Staff Iskry’s routine as a promotion of the Air Drive Academy and coaching aviation. The coaching aviation was additionally represented by Staff Orlik which returned to the skies over Radom with its typical show program.
This occurred most likely because of the have to fill within the hole left behind by the shortage of the MiG-29 solo show, or the Su-22 function demo crew on the present’s schedule. CAS demo was the dynamic show act involving these post-soviet property – alongside the FA-50. The routine led to a symbolic formation break by the MiG-29, passing on its function to the FA-50 as a fighter. The Su-22 was to seem within the sky over Radom once more, however we’ll return to that later.
The Polish Air Drive has additionally showcased some new show routine: other than the evening routine carried out by the C-130 (or no less than some components of that routine, which was displayed in full in Leszno this yr), the Cracow-based C295M with a particular ‘Wawel Dragon’ paint scheme was additionally displayed in Radom.
The worldwide jet solo acts performing their shows in Radom included the Finnish Hornet demo, Danish F-16, HAF ZEUS Demo Staff on the F-16, and the Belgian Air Element F-16 solo show, together with the British Eurofighter, or the Czech Gripen. That array of shows locations the Radom present among the many main European air present occasions – with the entire main European solo demos current right here. Apparently, other than the Polish Staff Orlik, the one aerobatic crew representing an air drive got here from Switzerland – Patrouille Suisse carried out on each days, flying their F-5s.
Radom has actually develop into a spot for the Polish MoD to showcase its newest acquisitions. This yr was no totally different. The Polish Navy determined to show its AW101 helicopter within the ASW configuration. The beastly plane carried out a really fascinating dynamic show, demonstrating its agility and efficiency. Secondly, the Sadków airport additionally supplied a venue for the Polish Air Drive to exhibit the FA-50. The Korean jet flew within the air parade, and in addition within the CAS demo, alongside the Su-22 and MiG-29, with pyro components on the bottom.
A particular point out ought to go to the RWD-8 reproduction, flying as a gap act. The RWD-8 is among the most produced Polish plane, however not one of the originals survived. The newly constructed reproduction has been an fascinating spotlight and an excellent present opener in Radom. One other historic plane displayed in Radom was the T-6 Harvard. The civil components of the present additionally included the Pink Bull’s Alpha Jets, Bo-105 flown by Felix Baumgartner, Luke Czepiela flying his Zivko Edge, Artur Kielak on Gembird GB-1, or Marek Choim flying his Additional, or the 3AT3 crew with an An-2. Amongst these, the Alpha Jets actually stood out, particularly on Saturday, when their show was scheduled to occur within the tender, night gentle – the routine may have been in comparison with poetry written with jet engines. Lastly, the duo Lim show additionally carried out in Radom, with the single-seat and coach variants of the Polish license-manufactured MiG-15s.
This yr’s version of the Radom Air Present additionally included an evening show portion. It considerably copied what we had witnessed in Leszno, earlier this yr, however with some minor modifications. The grand finale was carried out by the AeroSparx, preceded by the Flying Dragons paramotor crew, and the Bushcat Demo Staff, similar to in Leszno, however the army components have been each stunning and underwhelming. The C-130 carried out a stripped-down variant of its spectacular routine flown in Leszno, again in June.
Out of the complete show, solely two components of it have been carried out in Radom, specifically the flypast with the Polish flag displayed within the cargo door, and the spectacular drop of flares. That is what was calling for extra. One other army show that was carried out through the night portion of the Radom occasion was a flypast of a pair of Su-22s with a KKR-1 recce pod. The illumination fees, used as a crude flash for evening recce sorties, have been dropped from the pod throughout two low passes, which has been a spectacular spotlight of the evening program.
The static show was very a lot restricted. The lineup simply featured an RDAF F-16, US KC-135 and AH-64E (also to be acquired by Poland), Hungarian H-145M, Croatian UH-60M, and OH-58 Kiowa, German P-3 Orion and A400M, plus two L-410 Turbolets – from Lithuania and Slovakia.
A phrase or two additionally should be written concerning the group aspect of the occasion. Sadly, there have been some points. A type of the viewers raised was the water container capability restrict: one may deliver solely 500 ml water bottles onto the showgrounds, with water being out there in just a few (too few) places across the airbase. This resulted in chaos, and queues, or perhaps a purpose for individuals to break down.
Additionally, the scheduling of the shows was lower than excellent, with lengthy pauses between the person acts. Furthermore, this system on Saturday (lasting 11 hours, from 9 AM till 9 PM) was actually expansive, making Radom a beast of a present, however general, and contemplating the interruptions between the flying shows, the present schedule may have been managed a bit higher.
Summing it up, the performers within the sky delivered, whereas the group of the present left a just a few issues to be perfected.
Standing contributor for TheAviationist. Aviation photojournalist. Co-Founding father of DefensePhoto.com. Knowledgeable in linguistics, Chilly Warfare discourse, Chilly Warfare historical past and coverage and media communications.
