Cambrai Wings Meeting 2024: The Patrouille de France
Video from the channel duchateau hubert about Meeting des Ailes de Cambrai 2024, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 10:51. Language: French. Video type: Air show.
Event and crew
The Patrouille de France, the aerobatic team of the French Air and Space Force, performs at the Meeting des Ailes de Cambrai 2024 with its 2024 season programme. According to the commentary, the team brings together around 80 people: pilots, mechanics, operations staff, and communications and administrative personnel. Among the pilots, Commandant Alexandre Richard is introduced, in his first year, a Rafale pilot from Air Base 113 in Saint-Dizier who is set to take over as leader the following season. Drawing on his personal story, the team sponsors that year an association supporting lymphoma patients.
What you see
The display strings together smoke-trailing formation passes, a big arrow formation with the two solos at the tips, a synchronised transition in which some aircraft fly inverted and others knife-edge as the formation shifts from a diamond into another shape, the "bomb" break, whose separation the pilots execute blind, relying purely on feel, crossing passes by the solos in front of the audience, and the formation's final burst. The announcer highlights the pinpoint precision instilled from the very first flights with the team.
The aircraft on display
The commentary emphasises its flying qualities and closes with a tribute to the airmen who protect the territory every day and to the volunteers who organise the show.