Pardubice Aviation Fair (3.6.2017)

[upnorth]

Hello all,

 

Yesterday, I was in Pardubice in the central part of the Czech Republic for their annual air show. 

 

It's a largely civilian affair that features a civil fly-in, vintage aircraft of various eras and a bit of modern military aviation. There is also a display of vintage military land vehicles and historical groups reenacting ground battles in which some of the vintage aircraft participate.

 

Yesterday was very hot and sunny. The sun was directly overhead and a bit behind the action most of the day; there was also a ton of heat haze lower down to shoot through. As such, my shots of flying action are nothing to write home about.

 

That said, here's a few images from the day:

 

This OV-10 Bronco is a former Luftwaffe machine that now flies on the French civil register:

 

This was one of a pair of T-28 Trojans at the show:

 

I'd never seen a PC-7 at the Pardubice show before:

 

A pair of Yakovlev Yak-3 fighters:

 

Spitfire TE184 is a regular at Pardubice and seems to have different markings every time:

 

The Mustang "Excalibur" is also a regular at Pardubice:

 

This Stinson Reliant is a relative newcomer to European skies. It was brought to the Czech Republic in June of 2016:

 

Red Bull is a regular participant in the event. This year they brought their B-25 Mitchell, T-28 Trojan, Alpha Jet and Douglas DC-6:

 

Some vintage homegrown Czech GA types in the form of and Aero Ae-145, Orličan L-40 Meta Sokol and a Let L-200 Morava:

 

The flying started with this Beech C-45:

 

This Let L-410 Turbolet was part of the official show opening flypast made up of the various training types based at Pardubice:

 

This Beriot XI replica was enjoyable to watch:

 

The Red Bull DC-6 put on an incredibly nimble performance for a larger aircraft. Initially it was not scheduled to be at the show, but was a last minute replacement for a Lockheed Constellation which had to cancel for technical reasons. A fair substitute, I'd say:

 

This was one of a pair of Czech based Harvards in SAAF markings that put on a great performance:

 

A couple of the locally based training helicopters in the statics:

Edited June 4, 2017 by upnorth

[exdraken]

Nice event judged by your photos

Thanks!

[Jinxman]

Love the helos, and looks like you had plenty of variety on show - thanks for sharing these.

 

Do they still have the Zlin 142s there?

 

cheers

[upnorth]

2 hours ago, Jinxman said:

Love the helos, and looks like you had plenty of variety on show - thanks for sharing these.

 

Do they still have the Zlin 142s there?

 

cheers

 

 

Yes, we had decent variety there. one of the things I appreciate most about the Pardubice show is that it balances well against the annual NATO Day show in Ostrava in September. Pardubice will feed your civilian and vintage aircraft fix while Ostrava takes care of the modern military end of things.

 

The Zlín 142 is still a vital component of the training program run by CLV , the training arm of LOM Praha, at Pardubice. A four ship formation of Z142s was part of the official show opening flypast made up of all the training types based at Pardubice: Zlín 142, Let L-410 Turbolet, Mi-2 "Hoplite", Mi-17 "Hip" and Aero L-39 Albatros.

[RidgeRunner]

Lovely. The Aero 145, Morava and Meta Sokol are particularly nice . I remember the excitement of a OK- registered (OK-SFJ) Morava arriving at Gatwick in the 1970s :). There were others of each of these types, of course, and even on the UK register.

 

Martin

Edited June 5, 2017 by RidgeRunner

[upnorth]

2 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

Lovely. The Aero 145, Morava and Meta Sokol are particularly nice . I remember the excitement of a OK- registered (OK-SFJ) Morava arriving at Gatwick in the 1970s :). There were others of each of these types, of course, and even on the UK register.

 

Martin

 

I agree about those three GA types. For me, the Meta Sokol was the real treat; I've been living in the Czech Republic since 2004 and this was only the second one of the type I've ever seen.

 

The Aero 145 is the only airworthy example of the type currently flying on the Czech Register.

 

The L-200 Morava is simply an elegant and timeless design nose to tail. It's hard to believe that 2017 marks the 60th anniversary of the type's first flight. It still looks quite contemporary.