Cambrai 27/06/2012 (MIL) final opendoor

[Wim]

For the very last time, BA103 Cambrai-Epinoy opened its doors between 11h and 15h. 4 Mirage 2000's (3 with 103 code), 2 rafales, 1 Mirage F-1 and 2 alpha jet's landed again at Cambrai for this occasion. A couple of thousands of spectators visited Cambrai that day to see the airbase for the very last time. After the opendoor rehearsals from the rafale and 3 M2000 + 1 F-1 were flown for the next day which was the official closing ceremony.

First some of the visitors

Belgian alpha jet




French alpha jet




French mirage F-1




French rafale with BA104 Al Dafhra markings




And Orange M2000 with BA103 markings


And some base pictures, which shows already the first signs of abandonment...
The entrance


Flightline


Flightline filled with airplanes for the very last time


The hangars






Central taxiway


arrival of the 4 mirages in the morning:


the beautifull special paint a bit closer










Friendly backseater


Former EC.1/12 gate guard


And former base gate guard


Now some pictures from the rehearsals in the afternoon.

Rafale display:
backtracking before take off






weather wasn't that good, so that results in some vortexes...








high speed pass:


ATC personel watching rafale display




Mirage 2000 + Mirage F-1 rehearsal



in front of the tower




























and the recoveries


with a low approach each before landing












I hope you like them

[keystation]

Nice set of pictures! Well done.

[Snipes]

Some really nice angles and edits. And some dramatic shots considering the story behind the pics!

[Stephan Lodewijks]

Wow, incredible result!

Brings a tear to the eye that this base finished its air ops....

Stephan

[Katabatik]

Pathetic, heart-breaking, tear dropping ! Wim, please bring in the Kleenex