Fortune favours the bold – this saying might be adopted for the organizers of AIR POWER 2009. While the whole of Austria was almost drowned by heavy rain one of the biggest and most successful European Airshows of the last decade (280 000 visitors!) took place on the weekend of the 26th/27th of June under almost perfect weather conditions. The mountains surrounding the Hinterstoisser airfield at the Styrian town of Zeltweg were covered with heavy clouds and lots of rain was coming down there as well. This dramatic view together with the beautiful view of the Tauern mountains gave a perfect background for the aerial demonstrations seen at that event. Zeltweg was always known as one of the best and well organised Airshows and once again they proved their reputation very well. The Austrian Bundesheer (Federal Army), the Tourist Board of the Federal State of Styria as well as the Energy drink  manufacturer RED BULL created a powerful mélange for organising and promoting this event.

Almost the whole RED BULL fleet was present at the show, most of the aircraft were seen in the flying display as well. The latest achievement of the Flying Bulls, as they are officially named, the Lockheed P-38L Lightning had its public debut at Zeltweg. Beautifully restored is this P-38L the only flyable example of this great warbird outside the US (only 6 Lightnings are in flyable condition worldwide). Even if it didn’t show much (beside two carefully flown fly-bys) the grace and beauty of this aircraft was much to the delight of the visitors and the masses of aviation enthusiasts who were coming from  almost every country to Austria. Apropos enthusiast: the AIR POWER 2009 was an aviation enthusiast’s heaven. For a (not particularly cheap but nevertheless affordable) price one could sign in for a so called spotter package, which gave him the opportunity to view the show from no less than 10 different locations (! ), transported exclusively by the Army (whenever they wanted to swap the location a truck was requested which brought the enthusiast to the next spot). Breakfast, lunch (this wasn’t probably needed that much as most of the spotters had no time for having lunch while taking photos from their aircraft) as well as dinner was also included in this package – a fantastic idea which could or should be adopted by other airshow organisers as well.

Beside gathering a huge number of warbirds and vintage aircraft (and flying them on airshows) the company RED BULL is also organising air races. These spectacular events are in the meantime held worldwide and attract millions of spectators. This fast, dynamic and thrilling flying is especially interesting to see as the planes are flying at very low level around a special course marked by air-filled pylons (called air gates). The first air race was launch in 2004 with the Hungarian Péter Besenyei as the first champion.  The actual world champion, Hannes Arch is a local from Styria and was flying together with three other racing pilots at Zeltweg (the AIR POWER 2009 wasn’t part of the Championship but highlighted that motorsport to a stunned crowd). If one thinks air races are a new kind of sports he is completely wrong. The first air race took place in 1909 in Reims / France, where 22 fragile aircraft were competing with each other (the first winner was no one less than Glenn Curtiss, motorbike champion, aviator , founder and owner of the famous company bearing his name). To celebrate the first air race the Swede Mikael Carlson was flying his Bleriot XI replica in front of the crowd.

The Austrian Air Force was proud to present their latest acquisition to the public – the Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon. Austria purchased 15 EF-2000 (original requirement was for 24 aircraft but due to financial situation the order was reduced to 18, another reduction was done after a new government came into power in 2006). The decision to order the sophisticated EF-2000 as a replacement for the venerable Saab J-35OE Draken was very much controversial (as any other decision would have been as well; especially the left-wing parties in this country opposes any kind of military armament) and it was a big surprise even for insiders. The odds-on favourite for the new Austrian air-superiority fighter was always the Swedish Saab JAS-39 Gripen, which was on display at Zeltweg as well (Hungarian Air Force and Czech Air Force). Technically the EF-2000 is superior to the JAS 39 in almost all aspects, in case of the cost the Swedish “solution” lay ahead, but due to the long-hand term payment  target of the Austrian Government the price difference wasn’t that different, so the decision to acquire the EF-2000 was made and the contract with EADS was signed on the 2nd of July 2002.

All Austrian pilots were trained at the German Fighter Wing 73 “Steinhoff” base at Laage, near Rostock. The first Austrian EF-2000 Tranche I / Block 5  landed on the 12th of July 2007 at Zeltweg / Hinterstoisser the last one is to be delivered until the end of 2009 (the EF-2000 became operational in July 2008 – just a year after the first aircraft was delivered, a really remarkable achievement!). With the Typhoon the Austrian Air Force has the right tool to fulfil their mission, safeguarding the sovereignty of the Austrian airspace for future decades. The visitors at the AIR POWER 2009 could watch a typical interception mission when two Austrian Typhoons took off for a renegade display (it means an unidentified aircraft has entered the Austrian airspace and does not respond to the radio traffic of the air controllers). In the case of an emergency the Eurofighter Typhoon can reach any target in Austria up to 5 minutes earlier compared to the old Draken – an improvement which is very critical for a small country like Austria. Another EF-2000 was showing a stunning solo display at the end of the show, but this one was coming from the Italian Air Force, piloted by Major Alessandro Scaburri from the 311° Gruppo of the Reparto Sperimentale Volo, the test and evaluation unit of the Aeronautica Militare Italiana.

One of the mayor highlights in case of the Austrian Forces displays were the helicopters. By reason of its mountainous area Austria requires special helicopters capable of flying in high altitudes and thin air. One of the best machines for these conditions is the old workhorse Aérospatiale SE-3160/SA-316B Alouette III. With its powerful Turbomeca Artouste III B1 gas turbine (570 sHP) the Alouette III has a service ceiling of no less than 21 350 ft (6500m) and can carry up to 5 passengers or 750 kg of load. When one of the worst avalanche disasters in Austrian history hit the small village of Galtuer in February 1999, the Austrian Army did not have enough transport capacity to evacuate all casualties and bring in the rescue workers right in time. The biggest helicopter in service was the Agusta Bell AB-212 which is only able to carry up to 11 passengers and has a cargo capacity of 2200 kg. To overcome a similar situation in the future the Austrian Government ordered 9 Sikorsky S-70A-42 Black Hawk which are perfectly suited for the Alpine conditions and offer the Army the capacity for all further situations. The smallest helicopter in the inventory of the Austrian Forces, the Agusta Bell AB had its official fly out at Zeltweg after being in service for 40 years.

The aerobatic teams were pretty well presented at the AIR POWER 2009, with no less than 6 International teams in the flying display. The two mayor teams were flying the same jets – the Northrop F-5E Tiger. The TURKISH STARS as well as the PATROUILLE SUISSE represented the highlights for all fans of military jet-formations. Another jet team on show was the incredible BREITLING JET TEAM. This is the only civilian European jet formation flying 7 Aero L-39 Albatros in a stunning blue colour scheme, very similar to the one which is used on the US Navy BLUE ANGELS. The main sponsor of this team is the Swiss watch maker Breitling. Founded and managed by Jaques Bothelin, the team is in the meantime seen on many of the major airshows in Europe. Before purchasing L-39 jets Jaques Bothelin founded several teams mostly named after the main sponsor (Martini, ECCO, Adecco, Khalifa) flying Pilatus PC-7 turboprops. Jaques is the only pilot in his team without a military flying career in his logbook. All other pilots have been flying in the French air force.
Another highlight was the appearance of the Polish Air Force Academy`s TEAM ORLIK flying 7 up to 9 PZL-130 Turbo Orlik. Also equipped with a turboprop powered trainer was the next team on display – the WINGS of STORM, or KRILA OLUJE, as they are called in their national language Croatian. The official Croatian Air Force aerobatic team is flying 6 Pilatus PC-9 trainer aircraft and is based on Zemunik AB, which is close to Zadar at the Adriatic coast.

For all friends of warbirds the AIR POWER 2009 was some kind of Eldorado. Not only because most of the Flying Bull aircraft are vintage fighter or bomber aircraft. Also some more rare warbirds were seen on display like the Consolidated PBY-5A CATALINA coming  from the CATALINA SOCIETY in UK. Another amphibian and very much admired was the Dornier Do-24 ATT owned and flown by the grandson of Claude Dornier, Iren Dornier. The Do-24 was one of the best SAR flying boats ever built. Spain used their Do-24 till the middle of the 1970ies in the SAR role. The Do-24 ATT was a redesigned experiment using new engines as well as a newly designed wing on an existing original airframe built in 1944. The company Dornier hoped to sell up to 150 aircraft of this type but due to the fusion of the Dornier works with the Daimler Benz AG the project was cancelled. The aircraft was stored for a long time in the Deutsches Museum in Oberschleissheim and later restored by Iren Dornier to flying condition. The biggest surprise in case of warbirds was for sure a display flown by the Messerschmitt 109 G-4 “Red 7”, which was rebuilt by three warbird enthusiast and after a landing accident sold to the Messerschmitt Foundation where it suffered from another landing accident last year. Beside the Me-109 one could also see a Yakovlev Yak-11 and the beautifully restored  and only flyable Douglas DC-2 “UIVER” coming from the Aviodrome at Lelystad / Netherlands.

The AIR POWER 2009 was for sure one of the most exciting shows in the last years featuring all kinds of aviation. The beautiful location as well as the great hospitality and of course the huge amount of aircraft on display made it so special.

The next AIR POWER is already confirmed – it will take place in 2011!

Robert Kysela / CHK 6