NATO Days in Ostrava Sept. 22-23, 2011, Czech Republic
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Location: Leos
Janacek Airport, Ostrava, Czech Republic |
Admission:
Free |
Parking:
Various depending on car, motorcycle or bus. |
Value:
Excellent |
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AirShowsReview was back for the 12 th NATO-Days in Ostrava, held on the 24th
and 25 th September, 2011, under ideal weather conditions. By far, this is the
largest Air, Army and Security show in central Europe. And, it is FREE! This
well organized event was attended by 225,000, setting a new attendance record,
over shadowing last year’s 185,000 visitors by a wide margin.
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The organizers of NATO days in Ostrava are the Jagello 2000 Association, the
Joint Forces Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic, the Fire
Rescue Brigade of the Moravian-Silesian Region, the Police of the Czech Republic
and the Ostrava Leos Janacek Airport. The event is supported by the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, the Moravian-Silesian Region, the Public
Diplomacy Division NATO and the Statutory City of Ostrava. As you can see from
the list, this is very impressive and the event provides a very wide and therefore
interesting mixture of air displays, security, hostage rescue, and army demonstrations
using a different variety of armored vehicles.
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In 2011, several non-NATO members attended the event, such
as the Israel Air Force. They brought two F-15D “Baz” and
one KC-130H “Karnaf” for the static display. One
of the F-15D’s had kill marks displayed, that were won
against Syrian Mig’s. An additional C-130H, support aircraft
for the event arrived, but returned the same day to Israel, just
as it had arrived. These Hercules were quite interesting; they
had no identification markings except for their numbering.
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| The Austrian Air
Force was represented by the Blackhawk as last year too, but this
year they participated in the flying display. Additionally a Eurofighter
from Zeltweg flew in for the flying display and then returned directly
back to Austria after it flew.
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RV8tors flew a duo of homebuilt Vans RV-8. With smoke generators
on and impressive close formation aerobatics display, they were
a very nice change of pace from the military hardware present at
the air show.
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the first time in Ostrava, display teams were present: the Turkish
Stars and the Baltic Bees from Latvia. The Baltic Bees were founded
in 2008 and they fly (4) Aero L-39Cs. They flew a nice routine,
and the solo flew sometimes at a very low level. The Red Arrows
cancelled due to the tragic accident earlier this year.
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| Other
aircraft flying included the Dutch F-16, Slovak Mig-29AS, British
Beechcraft King Air B200 and the Tucano Display team. From the Czech
Republic solo displays from the L-159 Alca, the Gripen flew and several
helicopters too that were involved in the ground demonstration. An
interesting Mil Mi-8 we could see from the Polish Police. This helicopter
had no rear gate doors, which allowed the special troops to drop
down fast during the hostage rescue demo with a civilian aircraft.
We missed the SAR Demo from the Belgian Sea King that was cancelled
one day before the show, for unknown reasons. |
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static display was a good mix with helicopters, transport aircraft,
reconnaissance aircraft and jets. NATO E-3A EWACS, a British E-3D
EWACS and from the Swedish Air Force from the Air Transport and
Special Flight Unit F7 a very rare Saab S 100D Argus. The S100D
Argus is the upgraded version of the S100B. From the USAF Reserve
Command we could see a KC-135R, C-130H and a B-52H. The USAF also
sent a new C-130J from Ramstein to Ostrava. Capt Kerry Baker from
the 307th Bomb Wing / Barksdale LA., was the designer of this year’s
B-52 Ostrava badge. From the Czech Republic we could see also many
interesting aircraft. A very rare Zlin L-142AF, a Yak-40, the new
CASA C-295M, an Aero L-39 and Aero L-159, and all Helicopters from
the Czech Air Force, including the Mil Mi-2.
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| Eurofighters
were present; one from Germany and two from Italy, a Mirage 2000N
from the French Air Force, a Gripen from Hungary, two F-16’s
from Norway and one from the Netherlands, a Mig-29UBS from Slovakia
and a Mil Mi-17 from Slovakia in a very interesting digital camouflage
paint scheme, and the list goes on.
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| The food available was excellent with
a wide variety from which to choose. The event could improve with
more sanitation facilities though. Over all, the weekend event was
fantastic, where you could spend time talking to the crews, and enjoy
the flying demonstrations. Wish to thank Capt Kerry Baker from the
307th Bomb Wing / Barksdale LA, the Belgian Air Force Hercules crew
for their hospitality as well Capt Tomas Pettersson from the Swedish
Air Force. |
Some of the participants were:
- B-52H Stratofortress
- C-130J Super Hercules
- Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4
- Mirage 2000N
- F-16 MLU Dutch Demo Team
- L-39C Albatros Baltic Bees Demo Team
- NF-5A Turkish Stars Demo Team
- S100D Argus
- F-15D Baz
- JAS-39D Gripen
- MiG-29 UBS
- MiG-29 AS
- Mi-24
- and too many others to list.
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Photography by
Wolfgang Jarisch report co-written by Wolfgang Jarisch and Laszlo
Nyary for AIRSHOWSREVIEW LLC.
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AIRSHOWSREVIEW LLC All Rights Reserved. |
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