Hi gents,
on Thursday Sept. 27, 2007 the "Last of the many" Belgian Fouga Magister, MT35, had the last flight and was retired, sadly under dark skies and pouring rain ( actually it was raining cats and dogs! ).
After more as 46 years in service, the last flight took place within the Belgian Air Force.
Unfortunately, an engine malfunction lead to the final demonstration being canceled. This was a end which the Fouga Magister did not deserved
Rumours said, that MT-35 suffered maybe a compressor stall?
This was indeed a real disappointment for the over 2000 invited guests that gathered on base to gave the Fouga Magister a deserved farewell.
Even for Lt. Col. Rorive this was a huge setback as well, who was unable to make his last flight on the Magister after more as 6850 flight hours on various types! He had flew his final Fouga flight earlier than expected, during a moring mission.
Once again another "classic" jet has gone now and the Belgian skies will become more quite, after the Fouga Magister retired on Sept. 27, 2007.
Seriously this was a sad day for all aviation enthusiasts around the world, as the graceful display will certainly be missed around the Europea airshow scene in the future!
Thought I will post a few more of what, as it turns out, was my last opportunity to say good-bye to the Magister by myself. The sun actually came out for a bit too but boy, it was raining cats and dogs during the flying display!
The flying display´s were performed during heay rainshowers, and included 5 x SF260M/SF260D of 5 Sqdn, plus the well known solo-display from "Mickey" who was performing on the FA-101 this time!
The scheduled Sea King display didn´t took place, as the helicopter had to serve as a SAR heli on that day.
Even the formation flight between the F-16 and Fouga Magister was not performed , due to the engine problems of MT-35.
After almoster 47 years in service in the Belgian Air Force and with even more than 249.000 flying hours in total, Fouga´s will be definitely put in well deserved retirement on
Sept. 27, 2007!
"LAST OF THE MANY................GOOD-BYE"
Cheers,
Mick
Last taxiing out for the MT-35...
Close-up
The last one....
Static display...
Mickey´s jet...
Turtle waving for the last time....
Lt Col Rorive during one of a many interviews on that day
Ready for the last flight...
on Thursday Sept. 27, 2007 the "Last of the many" Belgian Fouga Magister, MT35, had the last flight and was retired, sadly under dark skies and pouring rain ( actually it was raining cats and dogs! ).
After more as 46 years in service, the last flight took place within the Belgian Air Force.
Unfortunately, an engine malfunction lead to the final demonstration being canceled. This was a end which the Fouga Magister did not deserved
Rumours said, that MT-35 suffered maybe a compressor stall? This was indeed a real disappointment for the over 2000 invited guests that gathered on base to gave the Fouga Magister a deserved farewell.
Even for Lt. Col. Rorive this was a huge setback as well, who was unable to make his last flight on the Magister after more as 6850 flight hours on various types! He had flew his final Fouga flight earlier than expected, during a moring mission.
Once again another "classic" jet has gone now and the Belgian skies will become more quite, after the Fouga Magister retired on Sept. 27, 2007.
Seriously this was a sad day for all aviation enthusiasts around the world, as the graceful display will certainly be missed around the Europea airshow scene in the future!
Thought I will post a few more of what, as it turns out, was my last opportunity to say good-bye to the Magister by myself. The sun actually came out for a bit too but boy, it was raining cats and dogs during the flying display!
The flying display´s were performed during heay rainshowers, and included 5 x SF260M/SF260D of 5 Sqdn, plus the well known solo-display from "Mickey" who was performing on the FA-101 this time!
The scheduled Sea King display didn´t took place, as the helicopter had to serve as a SAR heli on that day.
Even the formation flight between the F-16 and Fouga Magister was not performed , due to the engine problems of MT-35.
After almoster 47 years in service in the Belgian Air Force and with even more than 249.000 flying hours in total, Fouga´s will be definitely put in well deserved retirement on
Sept. 27, 2007!
"LAST OF THE MANY................GOOD-BYE"
Cheers,
Mick
Last taxiing out for the MT-35...
Close-up
The last one....
Static display...
Mickey´s jet...
Turtle waving for the last time....
Lt Col Rorive during one of a many interviews on that day
Ready for the last flight...
[:304][:304][:304][:304]
