Evreux 24 June

[Harry_Imp]

Hi all

Also planning on going to this airshow. What can I expect to see here, is this a major show?

Also what is this like for photography? How will my 70-300 fare here? (on a crop sensor)

Harry

[frank kramer]

This can be classed as a major show in France, with good participation from the French AF (including Transall formation flying), French warbirds and interesting foreign visitors. Last time they had the Thunderbirds, RAF Tornado F.3's (remember those??) and a Texas ANG C-130 (because of the units' former ties with the airfield), amongst others. Nice shots can be made on the flightline and the taxitracks (if the same procedure applies as last time) and the show could be done OK with a 300mm (except or the fact that it was raining cats and dogs for a considerable amount of time, with overcast skies and low cloud for the rest of the time). Don't forget to look for the preserved aircraft, there's some interesting stuff about, such as one of the few remaining Breguet "Deux Ponts".

[Jaap]

Official answer from the meetingair.fr blog :

Depuis vendredi soir, de nombreuses informations circulent sur le Net à propos des meetings de l'air 2012. Certaines sont avérées, d'autres partiellement exactes.
Dans un souci de clarté et pour vous permettre de vous (ré)organiser, voici le point de la situation.
Actuellement, les seules informations à retenir sont les suivantes :

- Les meetings de l'air n'auront pas lieu cette année sous le format prévu
- Ils sont remplacés par des journées (1 sur chacune des 3 bases) de la Base aérienne le dimanche uniquement
- Il y aura une activité aérienne avec des aéronefs français uniquement
- Un spotters day sera maintenu le samedi après-midi pour ceux qui le souhaitent et au regard des inscriptions déjà prises

Toutes les modalités n'étant pas encore définies, un complément d'information vous sera communiqué lundi soir ou mercredi prochain.

Grossly translated it gives :

Since friday night there has been numerous informations on the Internet about the 2012 airshows held by the French Air Force. Some are true, others are partially true.
For clarity and to ensure anybody can reorganize his trip, here is what is happening :

- the airshows will NOT be held as previously announced.
- they are replace by 1 day on the airbase, only on sundays, on the 3 bases previously planning an airshow (Evreux, Mont de Marsan, Avord).
- there will be an aerial activity, but ONLY FRENCH AIRCRAFT WILL FLY.
- a spotter day will happen on SATURDAY AFTERNOONS for those who are already registered and wish to maintain their registration.

All definite decision have not been made yet and a supplement of information will be given on monday evening or next wednesday.

[Ronny]

They have a new site:
http://meetinge.cluster006.ovh.net/

although not everything is working yet.

[Kieran]

So does this mean that even the static participants, such as the Slovak MiG 29, Slovak L-39, Qatari C-17, Qatari Mirage, Swedish Gripen that were going Avord are now being cancelled? Or is it just the overseas participants in the flying displays that have been cancelled?

If it's the former, I can definitely see Waddington benefitting. Possibly either Florennes or Yeovilton too!

[wedge]

For Avord it is confirmed officially on the Meetings organisation blog : no foreign aircraft.

Les moyens aériens présents se limiteront aux aéronefs d’états (Air, Mer, Terre, DGA et tous autres moyens aériens de la défense)
et à ceux des entreprises travaillant sur les plateformes aérienne (CASSIDIAN en ce qui concerne la maintenance des Xingu).
Il n’y aura pas d’avions d’Armées de l’air étrangères.

http://www.meetingair.fr/

Which means:
The aerial material which will be present will be limited to state aircrafts (Air, Navy, Army, DGA (délégation générale de l'armement) and other Defense material), as well as material from enterprises working on aircraft (CASSIDIAN for the Xingu).
There will be no foreign aircraft.

[toovey]

"There will be no foreign aircraft"

The first Le Pen air displays ?

[Le Addeur noir]

I think you will find spending cuts are the reason for no foreign visitors.

Expect more of the same in the coming years.

With the price of gas in excess of EUR1.60 in France,it is probably not worth going to shows like this.

[toovey]

I know, but I do think leaving it this late makes it look a little sad. With less than a month to go to the Mont de Marsan show, what has suddenly occurred in the finances? If it is just the normal cut backs, could it have not been flagged up some time earlier?

Sadly I think your right about future years. I do think that we may have seen the best regarding air displays.

[F17_114PM]

For Avord it is confirmed officially on the Meetings organisation blog : no foreign aircraft.

Les moyens aériens présents se limiteront aux aéronefs d’états (Air, Mer, Terre, DGA et tous autres moyens aériens de la défense)
et à ceux des entreprises travaillant sur les plateformes aérienne (CASSIDIAN en ce qui concerne la maintenance des Xingu).
Il n’y aura pas d’avions d’Armées de l’air étrangères.

http://www.meetingair.fr/

Which means:
The aerial material which will be present will be limited to state aircrafts (Air, Navy, Army, DGA (délégation générale de l'armement) and other Defense material), as well as material from enterprises working on aircraft (CASSIDIAN for the Xingu).
There will be no foreign aircraft.

Very sad ...
One small question only: Could it be, that with "aerial material" they mean only the flying displays and not the static? I mean, can we expect foreign aircrafts in the static or not? My French is very bad, so, I am depending on your translations
Thank you!

[frank kramer]

I'm afraid the news is as bad as it gets. There will not be any foreign participation AT ALL. The message is very clear (both in French and in English): there will be NO foreign participants. Period. The word there is "présent", which means present (meaning: there). In no way do they suggest that this message is limited to the flying displays. Also, the last sentence reinforces this: "there will be no foreign military aircraft." Not "there will be no foreign military aircraft flying"... they simply WILL NOT BE THERE.

[F17_114PM]

Ok, I understand Frank. Thank you very much for the clarification
Indeed, very bad news ...

[wedge]

I know, but I do think leaving it this late makes it look a little sad. With less than a month to go to the Mont de Marsan show, what has suddenly occurred in the finances? If it is just the normal cut backs, could it have not been flagged up some time earlier?

Sadly I think your right about future years. I do think that we may have seen the best regarding air displays.

The reason is a bit more complicated.
The MNAs in France were organized by an organization called FOSA (fondation des oeuvres sociales de l'air: Air Social Works Foundation) which is helping families of air people (military and civilian) being killed or injured in accident , or having troubles in their life (serious health problems,...).

The financial part was on investigation by the Counts Court (Cour des Comptes), a french institution which is examinating the use of public money: by the army, the government, even by the president...

To be short, the Court says that this is abnormal that public money (meaning the money spent by the Air Force) is used to serve a private Foundation, even if this Foundation was recognized as being of Public utility.

So to cut back any discussion , the FOSA gave up the MNAs organization , waiting for the conclusion of the report of the Court.

The Air Force was then left alone with "the baby", so they decided to keep a part of the events beacause of the work already done,
but were told by the Headquarters to drastically reduce the budget for this year.

This is why the decision was so sudden.

[frank kramer]

On the verge of going off-topic, but isn't it sad that the "bean-counters" at the French General Accounting Office manage to come up with a ruling in which everybody loses? The FOSA (equivalent to the RAF Benevolent Fund) is doing a great job for (ex)AdlA-personnel and their families in trouble. The AdlA-personnel is/was doing a job on behalf of their country. In order to help them, FOSA must raise money. They can either ask it from the government, the Air Force, or through donations. The Air Force gives them the opportunity to raise money through the entrance fees to the MNA's, while they (the AF) themselves pay -together with public and private sponsors-for the operational costs involved in organising the MNA. People coming to see the show pay an entrance fee to FOSA. People that come have a good time with a wide variety of aircraft from all over the world. As the Dutch advert for an insurance company says: "We All Benefit"..!

Now, under this new ruling, the Air Force can no longer do that. In order to raise money for FOSA and in the end to support their own personnel doing a public job, the AF would have to donate money directly to FOSA. This would be even more unacceptable to the bean-counters. Understandably, the FOSA can't pick up the costs for organising the MNA's either if the Air Force can/may no longer do that. That way, they would end up with higher costs than income, which just isn't feasible. This way, FOSA has to find another way to raise money to help their clients, the clients risk the fact that FOSA can no longer help them through lack of money and that neither can the Air Force (who cannot justify the expense anymore now that FOSA is no longer the beneficiary), visitors get a less attractive show... "We All Lose!". That's not just sad, that's sick.

[F17_114PM]

Frank, very good said. I agree 100% with you! I am feeling especially sad for the FOSA. It must have been a major blow for them. Hope, they will find another way to raise money. Organisations like this, are doing a great job in their respective countries!