Beja Airshow
Saturday 1st June - Sunday 2nd June 2024
Now in its third edition, the Beja Airshow provides something different for the aviation enthusiast, with types rarely seen in the UK. Taking place on the 1st and 2nd of June and with the weather forecast set to be clear blue skies, it was shaping up to be a great show, however, events were to take a turn for the worse on the second day leading to tragedy.
reports from a sweltering Beja for UK Airshow Review. Photography by the author.
The Portuguese Air Force (FAP) have always been a bit shy about sending assets to UK shows, so the onus has been on the aviation enthusiast to travel to them - granted this year is shaping up differently with RIAT expecting both their new C-390 and a pair of F-16s. This year's airshow was the third edition at Beja in recent years and followed on directly from a pair of military exercises - Real Thaw and Hot Blade. The foreign participation was therefore of a much higher calibre than you would normally expect from a show of this scale, due to aircraft from the military exercises appearing in both the static and Sunday's flying programme.
Beja Air Base has an interesting history, being originally built for the West German Air Force in 1964, due to flying restrictions in their home country. The Portuguese began using the base in the late '80s for some of their ageing training fleet of T-33s and T-38s. On the Luftwaffe's departure in 1993, as part of the compensation for the use of the base, they donated 50 Alpha Jets to the Portuguese Air Force. There is both a Portuguese Alpha Jet and a German Starfighter acting as gate guards to demonstrate this link. Another interesting tidbit about Beja is it's the only airport in Portugal capable of accommodating an A380!
The weather forecast proved accurate, however temperatures were in the low to mid 30s Celsius, proving extremely uncomfortable and keeping the emergency services busy with a number of people suffering from the heat. Fortunately, the organisers provided camouflage netting areas offering some partial shade from the baking sun. The shade from the significant number of trees along the back of the apron also soon filled up with people trying to escape the heat. On the whole, facilities at the show were good, with no significant queues for toilets, although the food ticketing system caused some problems. Getting out after the show was a whole different issue - think Cosford parking problems, but worse!
The show programme was scheduled to be the same both days, although the Sunday also had some flying elements from the two military exercises. The show opened both days with some RC model flying, and while this wasn't a powerful start to the programme, it did give people a chance to get on base without missing any of the main flying display. That being said, on the Saturday the supposed morning start of the flying didn't really actually start until just before midday.
The main flying display opened on both days with the departure of the Portuguese Air Force's latest aircraft - the Embraer C-390 Millennium. The Portuguese Air Force are the first export customer for the type and received their first airframe last year, with the last of five due to be delivered in early 2027. The C-390 was used as the jump-ship for the Portuguese Army's Black Falcons parachute team, before returning in formation with a Dassault Falcon 50, both of which carried out a series of passes, including touch and goes, or in the case of the C-390, a stop and go.
Following on from the C-390 was the second transport type operated by the Portuguese - the Airbus C295. Portugal operates a mix of maritime and cargo variants, however all have the larger AN/APN-241 weather radar compared to other air forces' C295s, making them easily recognisable. The aircraft taking part in the flying display was an MPA variant. Of course, the other main transport type is the venerable C-130H Hercules, which was offering pleasure flights in the morning - if you were prepared to queue up to register. The Hercules is due for retirement in the next few years following the arrival of the C-390.
Whilst the display took a while to get going on Saturday, the addition of aircraft that took part in the military exercises meant a more prompt start on Sunday. Spectators were treated to a flyby from a specially marked French E-3F Sentry, celebrating 90 years of the French Air Force, followed by a pair of Czech ALCAs carrying out a role demo, complete with the use of pyros, and ending with a pair of Romanian F-16s and Mirage 2000s completing that part of the programme.
Whilst fixed wing Portuguese Air Force assets are uncommon in the UK, rotary assets are almost unheard of, so it was wonderful to see one of each of the three types operated - the EH-101 Merlin, AW119 Koala and UH-60A Black Hawk. The Merlin in particular is a great looking helicopter with its sand and spinach paint scheme. The three helicopters performed a role demo carrying underslung loads and fast roping soldiers, while the UH-60 flew circles above. Mixing it up on the Sunday saw the addition of a pair of Austrian Air Force AB.212s - with soldiers at the end of ridiculously long ropes - and a Swiss Cougar.
Sadly, there were a number of absentees from the flying and static programme. The USAFE F-15E Strike Eagle demo sadly dropped off the list a couple of weeks prior to the show, replaced by a pair of Lakenheath F-35s on static, one of which was the 493rd FS 'boss bird'. The Spanish Eurofighter also didn't make the static. More frustratingly none of the P-3s stationed at Beja took part in the flying display as advertised, even the airframe recently transferred from the German Navy. They did however, have a special tailed 'Lobos' P-3 on static. The static was a small affair, but with some quality items that took part in the exercises; including both Greek and French Mirage 2000s, a trio of F-35s - two from USAFE and one from Italy, a Romanian F-16, Czech ALCA, the pair of above mentioned P-3s and a selection of retired FAP airframes.
Embraer brought along their EMB314 Super Tucano, presumably in the hope of selling it to Portugal, to fill the light attack role they lost with the retirement of the Alpha Jets. Although, its display, consisting of a series of low level high speed passes, can't imagine did much to inspire interest. The Hungarian Air Force also took part, with their solo Gripen taking to the skies, complete with a dump and burn.
The Air Force also showed off their training aircraft, with a two ship formation flight of Chipmunks - the last in military service anywhere in the world. The FAP still operate six re-engined Chipmunks in the basic training role. Following on from the Chippies were a trio of SOCATA Epsilons, one of which wore a special scheme celebrating 100,000 hours flying of the type in Portuguese service.
A selection of foreign display teams took part in the flying programme, including our very own RAF Falcons, who drew genuine appreciation from the crowd, much more so than many of the aircraft in fact. Patrulla Aguila brought along their CASA Aviojets, it's a well flown display, particularly some of the pairs components, but the aircraft itself isn't really a crowd pleaser. Patrouille Suisse on the other hand, with their afterburning F-5E Tiger IIs, are much more exciting and put on a punchier display, although without the use of flares - which is understandable given the tinder dry conditions. For rarity value alone, Morocco's Marche Verte team in their CAP232s were worth a watch, with the double smoke heart being their most memorable move.
Arguably the stars of the show were the French Air Force Couteau Delta team in their Mirage 2000Ds. Based out of Nancy-Ochey, Couteau Delta were formed in 2017, taking over from the old Ramex Delta team. Their display is classed as a 'tactical demo' with lots of speed, afterburners and noise, flooding the senses. Unfortunately, for the photographers among us, due to their time slot and the runway orientation, their display was backlit, making photography a futile effort, so far better just to sit back and take it all in. Closing the show on the Saturday were a pair of Portuguese F-16s, who put on a dynamic display, including a couple of sneak passes to catch out the crowd!
The show organisation was excellent and with such a varied array of military participation it can be called a success, with much to recommend it as an event. Sadly, however, the show was marred by a tragic incident at the end of the second day during the routine of the civilian Yakstars team. Two of their aircraft collided during a manoeuvre, with one of the aeroplanes unable to recover and crashing, leading to the loss of the pilot. The organisers rightfully cancelled the rest of the flying display following the horrific incident. UKAR would like to express our condolences to the family and Yakstars colleagues of Manuel 'Coco' Rey Cordeiro.