Payerne Open House 2004

Unlike other European countries, open days in Switzerland are very rare. Reason enough for AviaMagazine.com to send a large delegation. Two teams visited Payerne Air Base to celebrate the Swiss Air Force 90th anniversary, the 50th anniversary of the Patrouille de Suisse and 15 years of PC-7s.

Team one was present on Saturday, while team two visited the show on Sunday and departure day on Monday. For team two, this trip completed a full week of spotting that started with the Tiger meet at Schleswig-Jagel (a report of the Tiger meet is also available on this website). And like the spottersday, the weather was excellent again.

Saturday September 4th

When entering the airfield through the northern entrance gate, the static started with two Norwegian F-16s, one F-16AM (671) from 338 Skv with a very nice tiger tail. The dual seat 306 was wearing special MLU OT&E markings. Other highlights on the static included two Portuguese Alpha Jets and one Greek F-4E from 339 MPK/117 PM. Greek Phantoms with squadron markings have no been seen too many times before. The Austrian Air Force was present with a tiger tail Saab 105OE and a J-35D Draken. The Draken will be replaced by the Eurofighter and temporary, until delivery, by former Swiss Air Force F-5Es.

The second part of the static consisted of helicopters and the new fighters like the F/A-18F, JAS-39A, EF-2000T (30+00; it looked very real, but is a replica), PC-6, PC-7 and PC-9 and a mock up of EADS 'Mako'. Fences were placed tight around the aircraft and therefore they were difficult to photograph.

The last part of the static was hidden on the farthest side of the base, but it contained several very interesting aircraft, like the Belgian Alpha Jet in its special scheme and the Danish F-16 with the red and white tail (these aircraft can be seen respectively in the exercise reports of Beauvechain and Kleine Brogel). This part of the static contained many old and new aircraft of the Swiss Air Force, like the F/A-18D and the Mirage 3.

On the Saturday, several demo teams were giving a display, like the Red Arrows, the Patrouille de Suisse and the PC-7 team. The Saturday was also the scene of a combined display of 5 of the present demo teams. The Patrouille de Suisse, Team 60, Team Aquila, Frecce Tricolori and the Red Arrows flew in a combined formation, with 41 aircraft. Besides the demo teams, there were also many other aircraft flying, like an American F-15C and a Belgian F-16A.

Read on in our 2nd part : Sunday's show and the 3rd part: Departure day

Read on in our 2nd part : Sunday's show and the 3rd part: Departure day