Flying programme for this weekend:
Show starts 13:30
- Aeronavale flypast (Magister, Zephyr, Rafale M x4, Hawkeye)
- Magister, Zephyr
- E-2C Hawkeye
- Rafale M x3 buddy-buddy refuelling demo
- Rafale M x2 tactical display
- French Army EC120
- Bernard Chabbert tribute (Beech 18 x3, L-12 Electra)
- Classic Formation (Beech 18 x3, DC-3)
- DGA TBM940 (modified)
- Morane 406
- Hurricane x2
- Les Condors Aciers (x3 CAP-10)
- Military Police EC145
- Vampire FB.6
- Requin Mike - Rafale Tactical Display (x2 Rafale B) **Sunday only**
- Ju-52, Storch, Criquet
- Fly and Fun (x3 L-39)
- Spitfire XIV
- DC-3
- Ham and Jam (L-3, L-5)
- B-17G, Spitfire V
- P-51D Mustang x2
- Yak-3UA
- PBY-5A Catalina
- Flying Bulls (F4U Corsair, B-25 Mitchell, P-38 Lightning)
- F4U Corsair x2
- P-40 Warhawk, TF-51D Mustang
- P-47D Thunderbolt
- Fury Mk.II
- Me262
- Me262, CL-13B Sabre, Lim-2B
- Lim-2B
- CL-13B Sabre and Lim-2B combat re-enactment
- CL-13B Sabre
- Skyraider, OV-10B Bronco
- French AF A400M
- French AF Rafale C
- Patrouille de France (x8 Alpha Jet) **Saturday only**
- Patrouille Tranchant (x4 Magister) **Sunday only**
Flying ends 18:30
Paris Villaroche Air Legend 2023
Last edited by Adam on Thu Sep 07, 2023 10:29 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Freelance airshow media and videography (thisisflight.net)
Producer with PlanesTV
Airshow commentator
Producer with PlanesTV
Airshow commentator
This is the ultimate classic jet airshow! Here are today's flying display arrivals, with another 6 vintage jets due tomorrow.
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Freelance airshow media and videography (thisisflight.net)
Producer with PlanesTV
Airshow commentator
Producer with PlanesTV
Airshow commentator
Today's Me262/Sabre/MiG-15 practice display was in pretty harsh morning light, but it will get much better conditions over the weekend. The formation, led by the Me262, tells the story of how the Messerschmitt influenced post-war American and Russian aircraft design, particularly with regard to the swept wings.
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Freelance airshow media and videography (thisisflight.net)
Producer with PlanesTV
Airshow commentator
Producer with PlanesTV
Airshow commentator
Some more clips:
The impressive Hawkeye solo
The Flying Bulls display was short, but very photogenic
My personal star of the show: the wonderful, poetic, graceful Patrouille Tranchant
A very impressive A400M wing rock
More to follow!
The impressive Hawkeye solo
The Flying Bulls display was short, but very photogenic
My personal star of the show: the wonderful, poetic, graceful Patrouille Tranchant
A very impressive A400M wing rock
More to follow!
3 x
Freelance airshow media and videography (thisisflight.net)
Producer with PlanesTV
Airshow commentator
Producer with PlanesTV
Airshow commentator
Another batch of clips:
The Patrouille de France's 2023 display routine is a little different to usual this year, but it's very good.
This was a proper jaw-on-the-floor manoeuvre, marking the team's 70th anniversary.
The MiG-15/Sabre tailchase got more exciting with each passing day; these clips are from Sunday.
I very much enjoyed the Storch/Ju-52 display - it filled the sky nicely and gave a lot of choice as to where to look.
The Rafale Solo Display was excellent, as always. On Saturday they used their special scheme Rafale C, whereas on Sunday they flew at sunset with a Rafale B.
It's been a while since a B-17 has flown at a French airshow...
The Patrouille de France's 2023 display routine is a little different to usual this year, but it's very good.
This was a proper jaw-on-the-floor manoeuvre, marking the team's 70th anniversary.
The MiG-15/Sabre tailchase got more exciting with each passing day; these clips are from Sunday.
I very much enjoyed the Storch/Ju-52 display - it filled the sky nicely and gave a lot of choice as to where to look.
The Rafale Solo Display was excellent, as always. On Saturday they used their special scheme Rafale C, whereas on Sunday they flew at sunset with a Rafale B.
It's been a while since a B-17 has flown at a French airshow...
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Freelance airshow media and videography (thisisflight.net)
Producer with PlanesTV
Airshow commentator
Producer with PlanesTV
Airshow commentator
Highlights compilation:
Some considered thoughts on Air Legend 2023...
Firstly, this is a very good airshow, and the flying is close. After a string of shows like Radom, Bournemouth and Duxford, where the flying was all pretty distant and sterile, it was refreshing to be at an event where I could feel the aircraft pass by, rather than merely observe them from a distance. This seems odd to me, given that the French airshow seperation distances are virtually identical to ours in the UK, but no British airshow of comparable size comes close to delivering this level of intimacy.
It's a nice problem for an airshow to have, but the flying display at Air Legend ended up being too full; organisers overbooked the historic aircraft, expecting that some would go tech and fail to show up as usual, but for once, almost everything came as planned. That meant, in an effort to squeeze everything in, that some aircraft got very short slots - just two passes from the Corsairs, for example. Add in some disruption from the extreme heat and a minor accident on Sunday, and the flying display ended up running around an hour behind schedule on both days - although this is infinitely preferable to having too few aircraft, so you won't hear any complaints from me.
There were some very high-quality, high-energy warbird solos indeed. Brice Ohayon in the clipped-wing Spitfire XIV was especially notable, putting on a great show in only his first season, with some stonking low, fast topside passes and aileron rolls that really made your chest vibrate. P-51D "Frances Dell" was also memorable for similar reasons, and the Flying Bulls were very good with some photogenic low formation flybys (albeit they would have benefitted from a longer slot to give them the chance to fly some solo aerobatics with each aircraft in turn). A large British contingent contributed some interesting aircraft like the B-17, Fury and P-47, but while they flew nice sequences, anything British felt noticably quieter, further away and generally less immersive than anything not British. Personally I find it a little sad to see that direct comparison and then pack my bags and head home for another few weekends of UK airshows - my enthusiasm for that has been somewhat dented.
The organisers have managed to overcome the new French regulations and have been able to re-introduce the one-off formation displays that made French airshows so attractive a few years ago. The Ju-52 with the two Storches was great fun to watch, and the 40-minute classic jet sequence was simply sublime, starting with some nice, tight formation passes with the Me262, F-86 and MiG-15. The Me262 then went into a solo display that far surpassed what we saw from it at RIAT, before giving way to a very dynamic Korean War tailchase with the MiG and Sabre jinking around the sky in dynamic fashion. Next, the MiG performed some low solo passes before Fred Akary took centrestage with his very polished solo Sabre aerobatic routine, which is more akin to a military fast jet solo display in style rather than a typical vintage jet showcase. Shortly afterwards, Patrouille Tranchant's poetically graceful four-ship Fouga Magister display took place - a real highlight. All of this unfolded in stunning evening light and the classic jets were intermixed with displays by the French Air Force, making for an absolutely unforgettable 2hrs of airshow perfection right at the end of the running order.
Virtually all the military displays were superb. The Army EC120 was a surprisingly entertaining performer, while the A400M and Rafale solos were as jaw-dropping as ever. The Patrouille de France's 2023 display routine is absolutely excellent and they are truly exciting to watch - it felt like they were apexing their big formation turns right on top of us and filling the sky like few other teams can manage. The Navy's showcase was nothing short of spectacular, featuring a mass flypast, buddy-buddy refuelling demo, a fantastic Hawkeye solo and very polished three-ship CAP-10 aerobatic display. The highlight, though, was their simply unmatched Rafale M two-ship tactical display, complete with plentiful aerobatic tailchasing, breaks, overtakes, opposition passes and close formation flying, all in the space of just a 7 minute slot. The weakest military display (and it was still not bad at all) was Requin Mike with two Rafale Bs, with a simpler routine than their Navy counterparts, stretched out over double the amount of time.
All the flying display aircraft were available to view at close quarters, both when the flightline was open to the public in the mornings, and then when the aircraft from the front row of the flightline (P-47, Fury, Skyraider, Bronco, MiG-15, Sabre, Me262 and Rafales) were taxying. It's possible for the public to get almost within touching distance of the aircraft as they taxied off the front row of parking stands, with literally just a couple of meters seperating the crowd from the wingtips of passing aircraft - a proximity to moving jets that I have never seen at any other venue. Better still, these aircraft are parked along a secondary crowdline at the back of the showground, rather than lining the main crowdline at the front - so those of us who wanted to enjoy the warbird flying without being deafened and having our view blocked by a Rafale pumping out noise and heat haze for half an hour before its slot could avoid the parking area entirely.
All in all, Air Legend 2023 was another superb event and probably the best edition of the show that I've yet attended. Air Legend is clearly now one of the world's top warbird airshows, and the healthy military support only broadens its appeal.
Some considered thoughts on Air Legend 2023...
Firstly, this is a very good airshow, and the flying is close. After a string of shows like Radom, Bournemouth and Duxford, where the flying was all pretty distant and sterile, it was refreshing to be at an event where I could feel the aircraft pass by, rather than merely observe them from a distance. This seems odd to me, given that the French airshow seperation distances are virtually identical to ours in the UK, but no British airshow of comparable size comes close to delivering this level of intimacy.
It's a nice problem for an airshow to have, but the flying display at Air Legend ended up being too full; organisers overbooked the historic aircraft, expecting that some would go tech and fail to show up as usual, but for once, almost everything came as planned. That meant, in an effort to squeeze everything in, that some aircraft got very short slots - just two passes from the Corsairs, for example. Add in some disruption from the extreme heat and a minor accident on Sunday, and the flying display ended up running around an hour behind schedule on both days - although this is infinitely preferable to having too few aircraft, so you won't hear any complaints from me.
There were some very high-quality, high-energy warbird solos indeed. Brice Ohayon in the clipped-wing Spitfire XIV was especially notable, putting on a great show in only his first season, with some stonking low, fast topside passes and aileron rolls that really made your chest vibrate. P-51D "Frances Dell" was also memorable for similar reasons, and the Flying Bulls were very good with some photogenic low formation flybys (albeit they would have benefitted from a longer slot to give them the chance to fly some solo aerobatics with each aircraft in turn). A large British contingent contributed some interesting aircraft like the B-17, Fury and P-47, but while they flew nice sequences, anything British felt noticably quieter, further away and generally less immersive than anything not British. Personally I find it a little sad to see that direct comparison and then pack my bags and head home for another few weekends of UK airshows - my enthusiasm for that has been somewhat dented.
The organisers have managed to overcome the new French regulations and have been able to re-introduce the one-off formation displays that made French airshows so attractive a few years ago. The Ju-52 with the two Storches was great fun to watch, and the 40-minute classic jet sequence was simply sublime, starting with some nice, tight formation passes with the Me262, F-86 and MiG-15. The Me262 then went into a solo display that far surpassed what we saw from it at RIAT, before giving way to a very dynamic Korean War tailchase with the MiG and Sabre jinking around the sky in dynamic fashion. Next, the MiG performed some low solo passes before Fred Akary took centrestage with his very polished solo Sabre aerobatic routine, which is more akin to a military fast jet solo display in style rather than a typical vintage jet showcase. Shortly afterwards, Patrouille Tranchant's poetically graceful four-ship Fouga Magister display took place - a real highlight. All of this unfolded in stunning evening light and the classic jets were intermixed with displays by the French Air Force, making for an absolutely unforgettable 2hrs of airshow perfection right at the end of the running order.
Virtually all the military displays were superb. The Army EC120 was a surprisingly entertaining performer, while the A400M and Rafale solos were as jaw-dropping as ever. The Patrouille de France's 2023 display routine is absolutely excellent and they are truly exciting to watch - it felt like they were apexing their big formation turns right on top of us and filling the sky like few other teams can manage. The Navy's showcase was nothing short of spectacular, featuring a mass flypast, buddy-buddy refuelling demo, a fantastic Hawkeye solo and very polished three-ship CAP-10 aerobatic display. The highlight, though, was their simply unmatched Rafale M two-ship tactical display, complete with plentiful aerobatic tailchasing, breaks, overtakes, opposition passes and close formation flying, all in the space of just a 7 minute slot. The weakest military display (and it was still not bad at all) was Requin Mike with two Rafale Bs, with a simpler routine than their Navy counterparts, stretched out over double the amount of time.
All the flying display aircraft were available to view at close quarters, both when the flightline was open to the public in the mornings, and then when the aircraft from the front row of the flightline (P-47, Fury, Skyraider, Bronco, MiG-15, Sabre, Me262 and Rafales) were taxying. It's possible for the public to get almost within touching distance of the aircraft as they taxied off the front row of parking stands, with literally just a couple of meters seperating the crowd from the wingtips of passing aircraft - a proximity to moving jets that I have never seen at any other venue. Better still, these aircraft are parked along a secondary crowdline at the back of the showground, rather than lining the main crowdline at the front - so those of us who wanted to enjoy the warbird flying without being deafened and having our view blocked by a Rafale pumping out noise and heat haze for half an hour before its slot could avoid the parking area entirely.
All in all, Air Legend 2023 was another superb event and probably the best edition of the show that I've yet attended. Air Legend is clearly now one of the world's top warbird airshows, and the healthy military support only broadens its appeal.
Last edited by Adam on Tue Sep 12, 2023 2:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Freelance airshow media and videography (thisisflight.net)
Producer with PlanesTV
Airshow commentator
Producer with PlanesTV
Airshow commentator
90 minutes of highlights:
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Freelance airshow media and videography (thisisflight.net)
Producer with PlanesTV
Airshow commentator
Producer with PlanesTV
Airshow commentator
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