IPMS South Africa - TFDC Airshow 2007

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TFDC Airshow 2007 - 20th Anniversary

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The 2007 airshow at TFDC saw a record attendance figure since the first airshow was staged in the Overberg area during 1997. Amongst the record attendees were visitors from as far as the United Kingdom, Poland, New Zealand, Sweden including a large contingent from Namibia. In addition enthusiasts from all over South Africa took an extended drive to the southern most tip of Africa, frantically tried every effort to board a commercial flight or made use of the “fly-in” option as one of the record number of more than 160 aircraft to attend this year’s show. The reason…? LIVE air to air missile firing!

In this aspect TFDC (Test Flight & Development Centre) Bredasdorp has a distinct advantage: the live weapons range is located in the immediate area next to the airbase with the base exercising complete control of the immediate airspace. These two aspects are very unique in the world of test flying as there are less than a handful of similar test centres where airshow attendees could view live missile firing in close proximity. The concept was born during the Good Hope II exercise of 2006 where the safety aspects were evaluated of live missile firing during a future airshow at TFDC.

On static

C130 no 409

The flood of visitors to this year’s TFDC show was treated to a number of interesting static displays. Both a Cheetah C no 362 and D 849 featured inert weapons on display with the DEFA cannon pack in full view. Latest LIFT trainer aircraft of the SAAF, being the Hawk Mk120 no 267 featured inert ordnance on display. As in 2005 the TFDC Astra on static featured the external fuel tanks; however these tanks have yet to appear on operational aircraft. In addition some civilian aircraft formed part of the display e.g. TBM 850 from Naturelink.

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