Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1446249
development of this design and its progress since 2 years ago it was only being show- cased in the static display. Two F-16 demo teams flew their displays in Ostrava - the Turkish Solo Turk demo, and the Greek Zeus demo team. Diplomacy-wise, it is also interesting. The event in Ostrava brought the two, opposing NATO members together. The F-16 is by design born to do BFM, thus any demo display involving this jet simply looks good. The Turkish display seems to be more interesting though if one had to choose between the two. Sweden was the partner nation of the event in Ostrava this year. The Swedish Air Force Historic Flight made yet another appearance at NATO Days: J32 Lansen, SK35C Draken, AJS37 Viggen. The Swedish participation also included JAS39 Gripens flown by vari- ous users: Sweden, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Saab was also partnering with the event. The Swedish historic aircraft are a ma- jor highlight of the European air show scene since the displays fully showcase the know- how of the Saab engineers. The SwAFH rou- tines highlight the unique design features of the individual aircraft. Viggen makes a reverse turn, using its thrust reverser on the runway (courtesy of the Volvo RM8 engine), taking off in an opposite direction. The orga- nizers were also hoping that the J29 Tunnan would come to Ostrava. It did not. It was re- placed by the Lansen. Belgian A-109 Solo Display Team Razzle Blades was another interesting highlight of the NATO Days, with its flares-filled display routine. It seems that helicopter displays are being revived in Europe now. This applies to commercial, and military airshows. The Ostravian show program included the Czech SOF Mi-35/Mi-171 role demo and the W-3 Sokół MEDEVAC role demo. The helicop- ter flightline also included the Swiss Super Puma display team. Slovak UH-60M Black Hawk also flew a dynamic display in Ostrava. On Sunday, all of the helicopters did a joint flypast, concluding the weekend show. AVIATION