Radom Airshow 2023 | Airshow Dispatches S06E07

Highlights from one of Europe's biggest airshows, the Radom Airshow, returning to the calendar after a five-year hiatus. As well as featuring some of Europe's top fast jet solo displays, the airshow also featured a strong showcase of Polish Armed Forces assets, most notably including one of the final airshow appearances of their outgoing Su-22s and MiG-29s. The event also included a night show for the first time. Poland also contributed Aerobatic Team Orlik, the Tiger Demo Team, flare dumps by the Su-22 and C-130 Hercules, and solo displays by the M346 and C295M. 64 Polish Armed Forces aircraft participated in an Air Parade to open the show. The Polish FA-50 and AW101 made their airshow debuts.
Visiting performers included Belgian, Greek and Danish F-16s, the Czech Gripen and W-3 Sokol, RAF Typhoon, Finnish F/A-18C Hornet and the Patrouille Suisse.
Video by Adam Landau. Thumbnail image by Simon Marlow.

[@ThisisFlight]

Next up: a 90 minute episode from Paris Air Legend, featuring the Me262, MiG-15, Sabre, Rafale M tactical display, E-2C Hawkeye, Rafale Solo Display, B-17 and more than 30 piston-engined warbirds. I'm half way through the edit, and I anticipate having it published within a week from now.

[@meertenwelleman4600]

Thank you, Poland. Also for your contribution to the safety of Europe.

[@SHAHRUKH_GAMING]

Fabulous ❤️🙂 falcon my favourite jet

[@paulkrapp]

Thanks Adam! This was fantastic! 👍😎👍🛩

[@PotatoGod6969]

this was nice

[@AshyPuppyBoy]

didn't know the Poles used the DA40 and DA42 for basic training, beautiful choice!

[@Table101]

It really is a shame that the F-16 solo from Belgium is ending next year. Why? It’s not being retired until 2029

[@ThisisFlight]

The phasing out of the F-16 has already begun. I would assume that the shrinking fleet size, combined with the age of the remaining jets and the need to conserve airframe hours, is behind the decision. F-35 conversion training will also occupy many of Belgium's top pilots in the coming years. I am told Belgium will have no military display teams beyond 2024.

[@Table101]

@@ThisisFlight that truly is a shame. Thankyou for the response

[@cesarotoya6414]

45

[@PotatoGod6969]

look these European jet displays are good but the Australians just do them better I am sorry but they just slap different it is the truth, just look at the Avalon F35 performance i mean nothing in Europe can match or beet that demo. and the airfield attack scene was garbage i mean the one at Avalon was so much better, it had a banging sound track, and the aircraft actually preformed not just flew by. Other county's should learn how to do airshows from looking at and studying the Avalon airshow

[@ThisisFlight]

We covered Avalon and I don't think this is a fair comment at all. Avalon's airfield attack scenario was doubtless better, but it's not a reasonable comparison. The Avalon airfield attack was rehearsed many times, whereas the Polish version only had one practice run. Avalon also had the advantage of using modern, fully-operational aircraft. As pointed out in commentary, the Polish version used four aircraft, with the display serving as a symbolic handover between old and new: two of those four are obsolete, non-operational and semi-retired, and one is so new (delivered just 3 weeks before the airshow) that not a single pilot has finished training on it yet. Saying the airshow planners should "learn from Avalon" is not helpful because they don't have the same resources to work with, and couldn't do an Avalon-style display even if they wanted to. One of my main jobs in the airshow industry is to serve as a 'talent and ideas scout'. I attend as many shows as possible - usually about 20 a year - including Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia. I then work for 4 airshow organisers (in Poland, France, the UK and USA) to feed back methods, advice ideas and displays/aircraft that we should invite or avoid, on the basis of that experience - along with analytical, detailed feedback on the quality and safety of individual performances. With my talent scout hat on, I'd add that Avalon's airfield attack scenario is also not especially good in the grand scheme of things (compared to the Nellis CAD Demo or RAF Role Demo, for example) and there are *far* better examples to learn from - indeed, Avalon could take a lot of lessons on its own airfield attack if it looked abroad. The RAAF solo displays are very good, but again, to say "nothing in Europe can match" them is beffudling me slightly. By every measurable metric, the RAAF displays are above average, but distinctly un-special. There are no unique or imaginative manoeuvres in there - certainly nothing that compares to the French Rafale or Belgian F-16, for example. The Australians use lower G limits at the positive and negative end. Their displays made almost zero use of the B-axis display line, with almost no on-crowd manoeuvres - which are seen frequently in this video. There's more 'dead time' (the gaps where nothing happening between manoeuvres) in the Aussie displays; dead time accounted for about 20% of the RAAF F-35 slot and less than 10% during the top tier European displays. And, generally, they RAAF solos just don't fly quite as hard. Take roll rate, for example, which maxed out at 180deg/sec at Avalon but can be up to 265deg/sec with some of the European teams. Or sustained turn rate: the fastest turn rate demonstrated by an Aussie jet at Avalon was 17deg/sec, about average for fast jet displays globally, whereas in this video, the Danish F-16 demonstrates 25deg/sec - it's just on another level. Many of these factors don't come over well on video, where 'dead time' is edited out and the sense of movement and distance is largely lost. The best pieces of advice I can ever give, before 'comparing' displays is: - *Understand* what you are comparing, including the aims and practical limitations of each performance - *See them in person* before passing judgement, because a KZbin video isn't actually be very revealing. Nationalism aside, I don't think anyone who's seen them all in person would say that the RAAF F-35 solo is a better or more interesting perormance than the Finnish Hornet, Belgian F-16 or French Rafale.

[@SOCALAVIATION2K]

Id have to agree with Adam on this one. The European solo jet demos are probably the best in the world. The RAAF demos are in between both the American and European style meaning they have their own unique style of displays. Also, the at Avalon they had a F-18 SUPERHORNET and F-35A which are aircraft not displayed by European countries while Europe primarily used F-16s and F-18Cs (RAAF Used the F-18C but is now retired and the finish F-18 display is better) so a comparison is not really accurate. You are right about the ground attack Demo though. Having witnessed both the MAGTF at Miramar and combined arms demo at Nellis, I can tell you that those blow any European attack Demo out of the water but it depends on the resources available.

[@Jacek_videos]

Ewa ZAJĄCZKOWSKA-HERNIK jest super ! RADOM glosuje na pania Ewe ❤ 👍 Lista nr 5 pozycja 18 👌