Meeting Aerien  BA120 Cazaux,  11/12 June 2005

After my visit to the Meeting National at BA709 Cognac-Châteaubernard in southern France last year, I was hoping for a similar show at Cazaux in 2005. So when this years show dates were published I was delighted to see Meeting Aerien at BA120 Cazaux on it as well.

Since 1998 are 18 A-4 Skyhawks from the Royal Singapore Air Force stationed at this base. As they are rarely seen outside their home base, its a welcome opportunity to see them during the Meeting Aerien. The organization did their best by organizing a spottersday on the 11th as well. Unfortunately the security was very tight so it was almost impossible to see anything inside the hangars. Only a few local based Alpha Jets and some A-4s were visible. The weather was great on both days. The sun was shining almost all day long, but unfortunately for us the sun was right in our face. This made it almost impossible to take good pictures from the airshow. The highlights of the years Meeting Aerien were, of course the RSAF Skyhawks, the French Mirage III with its last public performance and the three Mirage IVs that were present.

At first we planned two full days here, but as the sun is not in good position during the show we decided to visit the airshow only very short on Sunday. Fred and Jeff decided to wait for us at the car, so the missed a few additional Skyhawks which Mo and I saw in a hangar. After we left Cazaux  we drove to Bordeaux-Merignac to see the C-130 of the Cameroon AF which was present there. And early in the evening we made a stop at Paris-Le Bourget to see what was present for the Paris Air Salon. Around midnight we arrived back home after driving 2450 kms during the weekend.        (Click here for a full log)