Axalp air demonstration

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F / A-18 Hornet, Axalp Demo 2009 approaching from the west in front of the layers of Gärstenhoren

The Axalp aviator demonstration (also known as Fliegerschiessen Axalp ) is an air show by the Swiss Air Force on the Axalp-Ebenfluh firing range (also called Äbeflue ) in the mountains at 2250  m above sea level. M. above the Axalp near Brienz in the canton of Bern . It usually takes place annually on two days at the beginning of October.

History

During the Second World War , General Guisan discovered in July 1942 during an exercise in the mountains that the pilots dropped their bombs with extreme inaccuracy. He decreed that the training of pilots in air support for ground troops in the mountains should begin immediately. On October 7, 1942, training began in ground combat at the newly established Axalp-Ebenfluh shooting range.

With the beginning of the Jet Age, vampires (first in 1949), Venom (until 1983), and after 1959 also the Hunter , who was initially also procured as a hunter, could be found on the Ebenfluh , who, after being replaced by the Mirage, took on the hunting role of dropping bombs , firing unguided rockets and shooting with on-board cannons. In 1959, the command post, built in 1944 and located on the south side of the target basin, was replaced by the one on the Tschingel / Axalphorn crest. From March 23, 1960, this ridge could be reached directly from the valley floor by a military cable car, the mountain station of which is barely 100 meters from the new KP.

Originally an occasion for the military leadership, politicians and invited guests with a first press day in 1965, the event drew a few viewers from the late 1980s, who had learned the respective data. Until 1990 there had been a demonstration twice a year. In the mid-1990s, some 100 people found their way to the Axalp, until in 1999 the event, which at that time traditionally opened with two Mirage scouts at 2:00 p.m., was free to visit. By 2009, the number of spectators had risen to up to eight thousand people who made their way to the three spectator zones of this flight display, which has been officially advertised since at least 2005.

With the retirement of the Hunter in 1994, the bombing and exercises with unguided 8 cm rockets also ended. The Tiger F-5E fired for the last time in 2018, like the Mirages (until 2003) and the Hawk , which can only be seen a few years from 1990, with their on-board cannons, ultimately with the F / A-18 Hornets introduced from the end of the 1990s with their on-board cannons show only weapons used.

In 1994, Hawk training aircraft of the Royal Air Force stayed at Meiringen airfield and flew over the Axalp. In October 2006, two foreign fighter planes took part in the shooting demonstration. It was the Dassault Mirage F1CR of the French Air Force Armée de l'Air . In 2012 Saab Gripen flew on the Axalp.

The planned demonstration in 2001 was canceled at short notice because four members of the military had lost their lives in a helicopter accident on the previous Friday. In 2011 the demonstration was canceled due to storm damage in the Bernese Oberland. There was no demonstration in 2014 due to the Air14 airshow in Payerne. The 2015 demonstration was canceled due to the bad weather and the one in 2016 due to the crash of the Cougar T-338 on September 28, 2016 at the Gotthard Hospice. In 2019, the main demonstration was canceled at short notice because cracks had been discovered in the F-18 fleet. In 2020 the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic .

occasion

Visitors at 2,200 m above sea level, the newer shooting range KP from 1959 on the right behind the horizon
2 F-5E Tigers dive over the ridge of the Wildgärst
The Patrouille Suisse in front of the Ebenfluh rock face

Luftwaffe pilots with their fighter aircraft of type F-5E and F / A-18 demonstrate their flight and aiming skills. With their on-board cannons, they shoot short sheaves at targets on a nearby ridge as well as on the southern slope of the Axalphorn and on the northern slope of the Wildgärst . It is the only publicly accessible air show at which sharp shooting takes place. The demonstrations are supplemented by demonstrations with helicopters Aérospatiale AS 332 Cougar and parachute jumps by long-range reconnaissance aircraft, individual demonstrations of aircraft types and, from the mid-2010s, a demonstration of the principle at the air police service by two F / A-18s and a federal "civilian aircraft". The Swiss aerobatic team Patrouille Suisse concludes the event .

Official guests such as high-ranking foreign military personnel or journalists are flown in with Cougar transport helicopters - the number of people transported in this way has already reached 600, including through the transport of civilians from the surrounding communities. Spectators have had to park in the valley floor since 2017 and take a shuttle bus (subject to a charge) to Axalp. From there, the ascent on foot takes a maximum of three hours. Thanks to the Windegg chairlift , which is in operation especially for these two days, the ascent is shortened by approx. 30 minutes. The lift, actually only designed for winter sports enthusiasts, takes the audience up to 1930  m above sea level. M. Due to the time of year it is possible that there is snow. Should the weather deteriorate during the demonstration, the event will be canceled without replacement. Since the ascent to Tschingel is an alpine hike, appropriate clothing and footwear are necessary.

literature

  • Markus Rieder: "Cleared Hot" - The history of the Axalp air firing range. Aero Publications, Teufen 2017, ISBN 978-3-9524239-2-9
  • Hugo Freudiger: History of the mountain range for pilots in Axalp-Ebenfluh. In: History of the Swiss Air Force (PDF), Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport, DDPS, Swiss Army, Air Force. As of April 18, 2016.

Web links

Commons : Fliegerdemonstration Axalp  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ History and development of the Axalp-Ebenfluh mountain shooting range , gazette of the Air Force Center, January 21, 2020
  2. ^ War Games on the Axalp , WOZ, October 15, 2009
  3. ↑ Gripen is flying in front of a Swiss audience for the first time. on: nzz.ch , October 11, 2012.
  4. ↑ Cracks found on F / A-18 - flight demonstration on the Axalp canceled , NZZ, October 9, 2019
  5. ↑ Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport: Flight demonstrations Axalp '20: Cancellation due to Covid-19. In: vbs.admin.ch . August 7, 2020, accessed on August 17, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Flight with Super Puma is raffled , Jungfrau Zeitung , June 2, 2019

Coordinates: 46 ° 42 '16.4 "  N , 8 ° 3' 21.8"  E ; CH1903:  647,217  /  172779