Strana 34
CANADA 2002
at airports, as we know them from Europe, but
the entire squadron is housed in one large
hangar. It reminded me a lot of the bowels of
an aircraft carrier. The squadron had fifteen
Hornets, stacked in three rows of five next to
each other with folded wings. The classrooms
and pilot offices were under the roof around
the perimeter of the hangar, so the pilots had
a nice view of the planes all day long. The walls
of the classrooms were decorated with large
paintings of aircraft - scenes from air combat,
including quotes from flying aces, including
German ones. Downstairs, the corridors were
equipped with glass display cases, where there
were photos, aircraft models and artifacts
from the country‘s aviation history. A real
museum. Pride in homeland permeated from
every decorated wall.
First Flight in a Hornet with Kraut
The day of my first flight didn’t start off very
well, with a light snowfall but heavy wind
and a temperature around minus forty, the
runway under poor visibility. I was all the more
surprised when Kraut arrived and announced
an unexpected verdict: ‘Let‘s go!’ When he saw
my Czech winter flight jacket, he lent me one of
theirs from a colleague. Finally I strapped into
the seat, half frozen but happy to fly. During
the debate about the prevailing ‘scythe’, the
Hornet technicians proudly informed me that
their machines can go down to minus fifty.
On an apron full of planes, there was only our
crewchief and the one from Boss’s plane, who
would be our sparring partner today.
As we taxied to the runway, I still couldn’t
believe the flight was a go. Kraut told me that
in these parts, they call this condition ‘white
snakes’, the way the wind plays with the snow
on the taxiway. In one moment, you can see
the runway, in the next, just white. We stopped
next to the leader on the runway, where
there had to already have been at least five
centimeters of snow. ‘Let‘s go for it!!’ Kraut
exclaims from the front. ‘Get ready, it‘s going
to be a ride!’ Boss took off and left behind
some decent tracks, shortly after taking off,
retracted his gear and quickly disappeared into
the low clouds as he transitioned into a climb.
We took off in afterburner, but compared to
what I‘m used to in similar circumstances with
our Sukhois, I wasn’t really all that impressed.
After takeoff, there was mist all around us as
we climbed in wisps of clouds and I prayed
that the cloud tops weren’t too high and the
weather was suitable for mock aerial combat.
This meant cloud cover up to 4/8 coverage, to
guarantee visual contact throughout the fight.
For my peace of mind, however, we flew into an
area where, miraculously, it was almost totally
clear, with beautiful visibility and the ground in
sight, which was snow covered. Both Hornets
could then go into their simulated combat
exercise. I heard the familiar command ‘Fight‘s
On, Fight‘s On!! Kraut threw our hornet on its
ear and Boss energetically disappeared from
my field of view. After a while, I fix my gaze
forward, where Boss appeared, and Kraut
pushed full throttle. Moving like a bullet, we
passed our opponent and spinned towards
each other horizontally. Sunk back into my
seat, I awkwardly tried to capture a few
shots. In vain, the shutter was silent, being
overloaded with 5-6g turns, so I had to wait.
I at least watched the control surfaces of the
wing and the powerful vortices flowing around
the canopy. It‘s an amazing feeling, the g-force
on your body and the vibrations of the entire
aircraft. Kraut encouraged his commander
with the words: ‘Good job Boss!!’, indicative
of the above-standard relations within the
squadron. Then Boss disappeared by crossing
over behind and deep below us. We switched to
vertical, even from the back seat I could see
Boss below, picking up above the snowy lake
and I managed a few photos during a short dive
without excessive overload.
Boss was about a kilometer away from us and
went into a climb, Kraut went into afterburner
and tried to get behind him. We flipped over and
Boss went into a tight, horizontal turn turn. The
distance between us was quickly closing, I felt
a large excess of speed, but Kraut refused to let
himself get caught and increased his Hornet’s
energy level and set himself up for an optimal
distance for firing the cannon and remarked
that ‘anyone can do it with a rocket!’. At that
point, I lost the target, from which I deduced
that my pilot had it in front of him and was on
INFO Eduard34
September 2026
CF-188A in front of the 433 SQN Porcupines hangar, CFB Bagotville. Of note is the colorful flag on the SOP,
which is usually only gray.
A Hornet taking off from CFB Bagotville, shrouded in “white snakes” - ground fog caused by strong winds.