In celebration of its 70th anniversary, the Portuguese Air Force held an International Aerial Festival which attracted thousands of people to the no.11 Air Base in Beja last Sunday (July 3).
Crowds were gifted to an amazing show in the morning led by an Airbus A340-200 from High Fly – piloted by Carlos Mirpuri, the airline’s founder and vice-president – and a formation of Portuguese Air Force F-16 fighter aircraft.
In the afternoon, the Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon S (11-38) from the Spanish Air and Space Force displayed the fastest and most impressive flight of the event, while their colleagues from the Patrulla Aspa (flying five Eurocopter EC 120B Colibri helicopters) wowed the crowds with their stunning acrobatics and loops.
The highlight of the day came courtesy of Frecce Tricolori, an acrobatic squadron of the Italian Air Force, which saw 10 Aermacchi MB-330 military jet trainers putting on a quite the show.
UK’s Royal Air Force also participated with a Typhoon FGR4 ‘Anarchy 10’ display, while a Belgian F-16 from Demo Dream Viper used flares to light up the Alentejo sky. Marche Verte, the aerobatic demonstration team of the Royal Moroccan Air Force, also took part in the festivities.
Last but not least, the public was also given a glimpse of the five new Embraer KC-390 – a versatile plane designed for special and humanitarian missions, parachuting and cargo transportation which was designed and fabricated in Brazil and will replaced the aging C-130H Hercules planes, currently based in Montijo.
