Last time ?

Encouraged by the fact that the Singaporean Air Force has detached eighteen A-4 Sky hawks permanently to Cazaux for weapons training, many enthusiasts from the United Kingdom and The Netherlands came to the show .

As would be expected, there was a diverse array of Armée de l'Air aircraft on display, with the added bonus that many were from the test fleets of either the Centre d'Essais en Vol (CEV) or the Centre d'Expérimentation Aériennes Militaires (CEAM - also known as EC 05.330). This was possible, partly due to the fact that Cazaux is host to a detachment of the CEV, and partly because of the proximity of Mont-de-Marsan, home of the CEAM.

In the last time section there where the following French aircraft on display the Centre d'Essais en Vol (CEV) was represented with the MIR 3 in the static and on the flight line.  The same could be sad about the MIR IV. From Saint Dizier a Jaguar E was present on the flight line. As a last token they flew a mission together in one formation.

Special

Both of the Alpha Jet units based at Cazaux, ETO 01.008 Saintonge (8-Mx codes) and ETO 02.008 Nice (8-Nx codes), exhibited aircraft at the show. A new member to the base aircraft at Cazaux are the Belgian Alpha Jet's. Being based at Cazaux in a afford by the Belgian defence ministry to safe money.

Not surprisingly, the highlight for many enthusiasts was the Singaporean contribution to the flying programme. This mix of A-4SU and TA-4SU variants are Operated by 150 Squadron on a training detachment at Cazaux. The detachment has a total of eighteen airframes currently on charge.

All in all a nice sunny day in the south of France. Thanks to all the people at Cazaux for a spotters day very well organised!!.