Air show at la Ferte Alais

**Franglais** · 05-31-2009, 04:27 AM

I went to the air show at La Ferte Alais yesterday. The main theme is historical aircraft but I have included a few of the modern demonstrations:

1. Marine Rafale after a very slow fly past at low altitude with the wheels down. The pilot switched on the afterburner before the wheels were up

2. Junkers JU52

3. Supermarine Spitfire Mk XIX in photo reconnaisance version

4. Messerschmitt 163 Komet. The original had an unstable rocket engine which allowed it to reach 600 miles/hour and attack Flying Fortresses - if it didn't explode before getting off the ground. This modern replica relies on another aircraft to tow it up, after which it glides very prettily

5. During the demonstration by the Breitling Jet Team

All pictures done on the consumer Sigma 55-200 I bought last month

**jetrim** · 05-31-2009, 09:48 AM

Very nice shots Charles :thumbsup:

**starriderrick** · 05-31-2009, 09:55 AM

Good stuff, thanks for sharing these.

Rick

**JamesV** · 05-31-2009, 11:38 AM

Charles,

Great shots... :thumbsup: It's that time of year again.

I can't wait for the Chicago air and water show with my 100-400, it should be fun.

James

**SmartWombat** · 05-31-2009, 12:04 PM

Yeah, the glide angle of those Komets made them interesting to land, too. Not surprising when the original airframe came from the institute of sailplane flight.
It looks cleaner aerodynamically without the belly tank and the wheel dolly.

Main problem with the rocket engine was the fuels dissolved people.
Methanol/Hydrazine (C-Stoff) would burn them in a crash, Hydrogen Peroxide (80% T-Stoff) dissolve them.
Fractured fuel pipes or tanks on landing were the least of their worries, they had to get them off the ground first.
Fuelling was complex, done very carefully, with two different teams and washing down in between fuels. Getting that wrong and boom there goes your ground crew and the 'plane.

Oh my dad was an organic chemist and a lot of early chemical research was done in Germany and of course written in German, I think in his RAF days he might have done some interesting things, but never talked about them...

**Franglais** · 06-01-2009, 12:33 AM

It's the Le Bourget air show in a couple of weeks - but you can't get so close to the aircraft. La Ferte Alais is intended for propeller-driven aircraft, so you're only about 50 yards from the runway and the aircraft (up to World War 2) come past slow and low. But I was surprised at how slowly the Rafale jet came past.

The Komet replica only weighs 500 kilos (the original - with motor - was about 2000 kilos) so that must help it to glide. I was sure he was going to crash it because he went all the way up the runway the wrong way at low altitude. Then he turned it round and took it almost all the way back (into the wind this time) before touchdown.