100 Ans BAN Hyères
Sunday 1st June 2025
2025 saw the 100th anniversary of opening of France's Aeronautique Navale's only southern airbase, BAN Hyères-La Palyvestre. The base marked its centenary with a rare open doors event allowing the general public on base, and offered the Aeronavale a chance to show off its latest hardware.
donned his loafers and visited the Mediterranean coast to report for UK Airshow Review. Photography by the author.
"You are the airshow experts, we are the novices!", so said Lieutenant Philippe Riitano; the officer charged with looking after the spotters in attendance. Whilst France is no stranger to military airshows, and the Aeronavale are no strangers to airshow performances, it's not often that one gets to visit one of the naval air arm's operational bases. BAN Hyères itself hasn't held a major airshow for over a decade.
As it was, the "100 Ans BAN Hyères" event was largely run with the efficiency of what one might expect from an annual airshow. The one-day event offered a rare chance to see the air base's AS365 Dauphins and AS565 Panthers, the NH90 NFH, and the brand new H160B, as well as a brace of historic and modern military visitors, and other Aeronavale assets.
For €55, the event ran a "spotters" package which allowed access to a premium area for arrivals and practices on the Saturday, as well as the show itself on the Sunday. The package included the price of the event ticket, a small tote bag with some merchandise, and a (very good) packed lunch for both days of the weekend. There were complaints, quite legitimately, in the run-up to the show for those who tried to access spotter tickets; which seemed to be limited to circa 150, the vast majority of them French. Considering the number of spotters in attendance, and the ample space available, the show could probably have accommodated quite a few more, and it's a shame that a number of European enthusiasts were prevented from enjoying the show's spotter package.
The remaining 40,000 attendees paid €13 each for a ticket, and were very tightly packed into the airbase itself, which, by virtue of its operational arrangement, had an unconventional layout. Hyères shares itself with a separate commercial airport, and its two runways intersect one another. The relatively small hardstanding was used by the flying aircraft and visitors, which left precious little space for static or, indeed, the crowd itself.
The displays also suffered from the airfield layout in two ways. Firstly, the control tower sits almost at the cross-intersection of the two runways, and therefore the displays, which followed a northwest/southeast runway axis, were either quite far away, as was the case with the Patrouille de France, or otherwise were close, but very high to clear the tower, such as some of the visiting helicopters. Secondly, with an east-facing crowd, the light on the aircraft got better as the day went on, however, this left some of the earlier demos with tricky lighting conditions for the photographers in attendance.
Participation-wise, the Aeronavale tried to throw as much as they could at the flying and static display. The Aeronavale's Rafale M pair, ATL2 demo, and E-2 demos would be star items on their own at most other airshows, and seeing them all in one place did a lot to build excitement. However, the airshow was principally about Hyeres, and therefore there was an excellent showing from the home team. Performing a short but sweet routine to demonstrate the "Pedro" mission (the aircraft carrier SAR standby), a pair of Flotille 35F AS365 Dauphins flew a couple of high but close passes before winching down a diver.
Stars of the show were the Aeronavale's AS565 Panther trio. Distinguished from the older Dauphins by their longer noses, the three-ship display was worked up especially for the show by the base's Flotille 36F. The trio made excellent use of the venue, and their timings and routine were as polished as you could expect a dedicated demo team. The trio split as a pair and a singleton, the latter performing dynamic manoeuvres whilst the pair filled any gap the single left when repositioning. Finally, Hyères' Flotille 31F also mounted a rare NH90NFH "Caïman" demonstration, which was everything one might expect (and have probably seen) from a European NH90 routine. The event also saw participation from the ALAT (Armée de Terre) in the form of aggressive routines from both the EC665 Tigre and NH90TTH and the Armée de l'Air et de Espace's Patrouille de France.
Foreign participation was limited to a pair of NH90s from the Netherlands and the Italian Marina Militare respectively. The static display also saw other Aeronavale types such as a Falcon 20, a preserved Lynx and Super Etendard Modernise, and a Xingu and Falcon 10MER. Other noteworthy statics included the Sécurité Civile's EC145 and Dash-8 Q400 "Fireguard" with its pregnant-looking water tanks, and an ALAT Gazelle.
Regrettably, the show suffered from some last minute cancellations. The Aeronavale's "Condors Acier", their very rare Cap 10 display team, was unable to leave their home base due to the weather. The solo aircraft that did manage to make it sadly broke on arrival and was limited to static display. The E-2C also failed to attend. A Skyraider never materialised. Finally, the Spitfire and Corsair duo were prevented from attending due to the former having a prop-strike at an event the day before. Undeterred, the Aeronavale tried to make up for some of these cancellations; a Falcon 10MER performed an unexpected short but splendid flying demo on the Saturday practice day before itself breaking on the show day. To fill the gaps, the French elected to repeat the displays of their AS565 Panther trio and Rafale M routines on the Sunday.
Historic types were in good supply at the airshow; a Dassault Flamant, a C-47, and a Nord Noratlas made up some of the larger items, whilst a T-6 Texan, Stampe, and Super Cub also flew routines. The show saw participation from "Les Ainciennes Pales" in the form of their Alouette II and brand "new" Alouette III, both in their former Aeronavale marks/configurations.
Cocardes Marine also made an appearance with their Paris, Alizé, and Zephyr, which had a high-profile near-accident on one of the arrivals days by almost landing without its gear lowered. The team flew in formation with the Aeronavale's Rafale Ms, albeit one Rafale broke on the practice day, and the Zephyr broke on the show day, so the full formation was never realised.
The Aeronavale's ATL2 flew an exceptional display for such a large and heavy beast, complete with an ambitious topside and a dummy Exocet missile in the belly. This contrasted with the routine by Landivasiau's Flotille 17F Rafale M pair. Whilst a pair of Aeronavale fast jets beating up the airfield will always be a spectacle, it felt like the Rafale M pair lacks the punch and polish that it used to have in previous years. The routine suffered from being far away from the crowd, and some pauses went on for too long between some of their repositioning. After the din of the Rafales had subsided, the 40,000-odd crowd ebbed back to their car parks and shuttle buses.
The show was not without some rough-edges. The south of France in summertime will naturally have problems with heat haze for the photographers, and the venue layout meant that the mass of people were crammed into an area that would make regulars of Cosford flinch. In addition, the cancellations were clearly disappointing, though curiously, didn't feel like as big a deal as they ought to have been, given the strength of what did manage to display.
Returning to Lieutenant Riitano's point made at the beginning of this review; for a base that hadn't held a significant airshow in over 10 years, it was €13 for a ticket, and food and drink were sensibly priced. A UK airshow of that quality would easily sell out that crowd charging double or even triple that price for tickets, and, judging by what attended and how well it was run, the event was very good value for money.
This airshow was a one-off, and considered against the other disappointing unique European events over the years, the "100 Ans BAN Hyères" could only be described as a resounding success for the venue and the staff organising it. We hope that it's not another 10 years before we get the chance to return!