Air Show:

The day started with the Buccaneer (“Raspberry Ripple”) performing its validation flight. This was followed by the yellow Hunter, Cheetah D, Sea Fury and the Cessna 185. The C-42 proved that a fixed wing aircraft can hover! With a bit of a head wind, she literally hung in the air.

The two seat Lightning also gave two displays. During the 1 st run, an attempt was made to reach an altitude of 6000 m (19 800 ft) in well under 60 seconds. For this to be recognized, the aircraft had to start from a stationary position on the runway while the climb had to be accurately monitored (for this GPS loggers were attached to the plane). Although the world record ( 37 sec to 6000m (19 685 ft) was not broken, a new SA record of 70 seconds was established. During the Lightning’s 2 nd run, it broke the sound barrier twice but no sonic boom was audible. Never the less, it gave a clean display.

Lightning from Thunder City in Cape Town.

Due to the low cloud base, the Silver Falcons had to do the foul weather display, but this did not prevent them from flying two visually spectacular displays during the day.

Jannie Scott whose display in the TFDC Cheetah D at Port Elizabeth a few weeks before caused such a sensation - put both the TFDC Cheetahs though their paces. The Cheetah D gave two displays and on both occasions did an inverted flare release - a rare sight indeed and the first time this was demonstrated to the public. The Cheetah C did a bombing run as part of its flying routine, where, in full view of the spectators, several practice bombs were released. This is another rare event which can only be done at TFDC since it has a test\bomb range in close proximity to the flying display area. The Cheetah C went on to do a supersonic run (3 times in fact) but due to the atmospheric conditions the crowd was unable to hear the sonic boom.

Cheetah D releasing flares! First public demonstration of this aspect.

Pierre Gouws displayed both the Pharos Yak 18T and the L-39(ZU-TEE). One of the best individual displays was most definitely by the 22 year old Patrick Davidson. He gave a superb display in his Extra 300 painted in the colours of the South African flag. The Sasol Tigers team (back to a three ship routine with three L-29 Delphins) gave the crowd a tight formation display. Tigers were flown by Nigel Hopkins, Martin van Straaten & Larry Beamish. After witnessing these displays, one can understand why Patrick Davidson, The Sasol Tigers and Glenn Dell (although not present on the day) were invited to partake at the international air show in Abu Dhabi during January 2006.

The IPMS SA Media Group would like to thank Gordon Struthers for the media facilities made available to the Group.

Top photos: E. Kotze', H. Burger. Photo manipulation: A. Dyason

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