(Note: If you have no interest in old airplanes, you might want to just skip this post, which is about…you guessed it…old airplanes. I won’t be offended.)
I’ve written before about the Fete Aérien, Los Temps de Hélices (“The Days of Propellers”), as this is the third time I’ve gone to this airshow at the town of La Ferte-Alaïs with Hervé and his daughter Sophia, this time also accompanied by a friend of Sophia. This was the 50th anniversary of this airshow, so a little special. I’ve been to a fair number of air shows, and enjoyed none of them nearly as much as this one.
This year 84 different planes were scheduled to fly, planes ranging from perfect replicas of planes from the 1910s to the French front-line fighter, the Dassault Rafale. Unlike most airshows, which have fly-bys of a few interesting airplanes, interspersed with 345 demonstration aerobatic flights - each doing the same aerobatics as the others; how many loops and rolls can a person watch? - at Ferte-Alaïs there was just one aerobatic demonstration, and a bunch of “vignettes,” in which planes of an era flew together and chased each other all over the sky. Great fun to watch!
It’s hard to describe an air show, honestly, so I’ll just say this: on a perfect day - about 80°F/26°C - we arrived at 7 a.m. and left nine hours later, wishing we could have stayed longer. Just a great day! Again, I thank Hervé for arranging the day for this old fan of old airplanes.
Our Intrepid Aviator Does It Again
A number of planes are available for demonstration flights, and Hervé loves to give them some business. This year he and Sophia flew in a 1928 Travel Air. They came back pretty excited!
Hervé and Sophia's plane. The two passengers sit side-by-side in the front seat. The first owner of this particular airplane was Howard Hawks, the famous American movie director who bought it from the factory in 1928.Off they go!Post-flight: very excited!A French plane from the early-1900s. In the pre-World War I years and through that war, France was the world's leader in aviation innovation. The Wright Brothers could not get anyone in the U.S. interested in their Flyer, so they came to France, where airplanes were being developed and improved and flown all over the place.Would you go flying in this? Me, neither.I like this plane particularly. In Navy flight training, I spent about 70 hours in a T-28B just like this one, including the paint scheme. Sometimes I look back at that and think, "I did that!?!"No more complaints about long flights on a modern-day airliner, please.Five of these "airplanes" were at the show. Powered by a 27-horsepower engine, they all flew at the same time. In part of their show, a line of pennants was strung between two poles about 20 ft high, and these planes all flew under it. No amenities in these planes, but I'll bet they are fun to fly.This Extra flew the aerobatic demonstration. In fifteen minutes I don't think he flew right-side up for more than about 30 seconds. Fun to watch, but my stomach wouldn't last five seconds if I were in the plane. (Right, Doug?)
There’s a fair amount of cosplay at the show: folks dressed in aviation-related period outfits.
Two men dressed in what must be Russian airmen uniforms. They're standing in front of a Yak-3, a airplane developed by Russia late in World War II. One source says that despite its success as a low-altitude figher, its problems "included plywood surfaces delaminating when the aircraft pulled out of a high-speed dive, short-range and poor engine reliability." Yikes!This pilot has a complete flying outfit for the Spitfire, including parachute and life-vest. Since his flying outfit was meant to keep him warm at flying altitudes, with temperatures often below freezing, he must have cooked on this hot day.Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. Early in World War II the Warhawk was the best fighter the Allies had, but was at a decided disadvantage in high-altitude air-to-air combat with the German Messerschmitt Bf-109. The Warhawk's role became ground support, first supporting the Allied invasion of North Africa. It also found success in covering later invasions in the Pacific and China. This Warhawk flew at Ferte-Alaïs and the sound of its V12 Allison engine at full scream was fantastic.
Unfortunately I have no good pictures of the two Submarine Spitfires that flew at the airshow. They, too, thrilled everyone just by the sound as they flew by at high speed.
I think that’s all for the 2023 edition of my report on the Ferte-Alaïs airshow. I can tell you that for us slightly crazy old airplane nuts, it was a great day, sitting in the sun and watching planes that could have been scrapped years ago buzzing around the sky. Thanks, again, Hervé; it was a special day for me. See ya next year, same time, same place.
(If you’d like to see my post on the 2021 Ferte-Alaïs airshow, it’s at: 2021 Ferte-Alaïs )
