Istres-Le Tubé, 3 & 4 June 2016: I was here on Friday and Saturday till lunchtime. By then I had had enough fun and it was time to pursue other interests. Decided to drive to Avignon to spend the night. I had a nice time at Istres, and the organization (FOSA) have done their utmost to accomodate us. Even breakfast was arranged! I have heard and read some criticism as well, but given the fact that this is both a nuclear- and test-base, I think we have to be grateful for what we ended up with. Especially the evening flightline walk was cool, despite the small quantity of interesting planes there. And where else do you find an airbase which is literally covered in lavender? The smell was amazing!
Although Ramex Delta will stop after this season, the LaFayette squadron continues to operate the M2000N from Istres for 2 more years while pilots gradually transition to St. Dizier to work up on the Rafale. Once completed, the Rafale component moves in and the Mirage 2000N will be phased out.
The frontseater was an extremely friendly and experienced French exchange pilot. Now fully under the SingAF command, he was 1 of the Jaguar pilots on the final day of operations at Toul.
Nice to see some operational C-135s on Friday! This one turned too sharply for backtracking and locked up its nosewheel. It skidded along like this for several seconds, a miracle the tires or nose-gear strut didn't give in! The smell and sound can't be reproduced here unfortunately..
Supposedly this used to be President Giscard d'Estaing's personal helicopter when it was based at Villacoublay in the late seventies/early eighties. Nice SAR demo!
Interestingly, a single-seat Rafale from Saint Dizier in La Fayette colours was flown in for the show, whereas the expectation was that due to the complexity of the nuclear capability the sqn would purely operate duals..
They flew in purely for the show, arriving on Thursday and to depart again on Monday. Straight from Texas with 1 mid-air refueling over Maine.
Bulldog T.1 at the airfield of Salon-Eyguières.
Grand old lady at Aéroport d'Avignon-Provence.
Mirage 3 at a roundabout in Orange.
After a short and boring stop at Orange on Monday morning, where the morning mission consisted of the inevitable 2-ship single-seater each with a centreline tank and 1 clean dual, I decided to leave prematurely and use the long lunch-break to make the drive to Le Luc, hoping for some more action there.
Although they started the afternoon activities very late (giving me time to scout around a bit and settle myself at the paraclub), it turned out to be a good choice with plenty of variety and quite some activity, even though not everything passed by within camera range. No Caïman or ALAT Tigre was seen here, but I was happy with the following:
After some non-aviation related activities (St. Tropez!) I spent a few hours at Hyeres on Tuesday. Also here, not a single Caïman was seen..
I waited till around 5 PM for the return of the Falcon 10MER and a Falcon 50M (which took off while I was having lunch), buit after a long wait in the burning sun and an encounter with a snake, I gave up.. Time to find a hotel near Marseille, a shower and some wine!
On my last day, before my flight home on Wednesday, I was ready for some Firecat action! In the morning, while I was gassing up the rental car and shooting these 2 in Saint-Victoret, a couple returned from a mission. Unfortunately, they didn't fly in the afternoon. I also didn't see any operational during the long wait in the terminal (thanks to Air "Why Fly When You Can Strike" France).. It was nice though to see 4 CL415s depart in military style:
An NH90, at last.. I was beginning to suspect they were grounded!
The heat(waves) here was massive, I desperately needed water, a change and some shade.. But a nice airport with a good spot (motorcross track) and plenty of variety for those not purely interested in jet fighters.
That's all folks.
Cheers, Bart
... Should have zoomed in!
