Croatian Wings of Storm no more
Croatian Wings of Storm no more
It would appear that the pilots of this fabulous team are leaving the Croatian Air Force and so the team are no more...A real shame as these guys were damn good with some really innovative maneuvers .
You caaan't trust the system... Maaan!
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
They were among the highlights of any show they'd fly at, and they managed this with 6 turboprops without a smoke system, that's how good they were. All team members were professionals and thoroughly nice people. I wish them many more safe flights in their future career.
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
Apparently all 6 pilots will be joining the Qatari Emeri Air Force to start a new display team with 6x PC-21's.
Ben
Ben
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
benji1867 wrote:Apparently all 6 pilots will be joining the Qatari Emeri Air Force to start a new display team with 6x PC-21's.
Ben
Ah, the Qataris. If you don't have something, throw obscene amounts of money at it until you do, and hope people don't look too closely beneath the surface.
Anyone see "their" handball team that won the world championship they, of course, hosted? Frenchmen, Spaniards, Serbs etc...
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
DanO1978 wrote:benji1867 wrote:Apparently all 6 pilots will be joining the Qatari Emeri Air Force to start a new display team with 6x PC-21's.
Ben
Ah, the Qataris. If you don't have something, throw obscene amounts of money at it until you do, and hope people don't look too closely beneath the surface.
Anyone see "their" handball team that won the world championship they, of course, hosted? Frenchmen, Spaniards, Serbs etc...
Can't wait to see their football team...
Sorry to see that team go, saw them in Romania in 2006. Very impressive.
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
FIFA have already warned them about trying to bend football's far stricter rules. Previous teams have been full of naturalised Africans and South Americans.
I can see Qatar's chickens coming home to roost before long. Barcelona's presidential candidate said he'd sever all sponsorship ties if he got elected.
I can see Qatar's chickens coming home to roost before long. Barcelona's presidential candidate said he'd sever all sponsorship ties if he got elected.
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
DanO1978 wrote:benji1867 wrote:Apparently all 6 pilots will be joining the Qatari Emeri Air Force to start a new display team with 6x PC-21's.
Ben
Ah, the Qataris. If you don't have something, throw obscene amounts of money at it until you do, and hope people don't look too closely beneath the surface.
I thought similar about the UAE's Al Fursan. Didn't they buy the MB339s for the sole purpose of forming an aerobatic team, instead of just using their existing (or buying extra) Hawks because they liked what they saw from the Frecce? That's a whole new aircraft type, supply chain, maintenance, spares etc... just for the purposes of a display team. I'm not knocking the team itself, but it does seem to me to be an unnecessarily complicated and expensive way of doing things.
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Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
Probably the only Air Force to have at least a squadron of fighters and yet still have more VIP aircraft..
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
Wow!
Wings of storm re-incarnated as the Qatari Air Force Aerobatic team - never heard of such a thing before.
Anyways, the croatians never managed to make it to the UK due to financial problems in Croatia, maybe we will get to see them in the UK in Qatari colours?
Wings of storm re-incarnated as the Qatari Air Force Aerobatic team - never heard of such a thing before.
Anyways, the croatians never managed to make it to the UK due to financial problems in Croatia, maybe we will get to see them in the UK in Qatari colours?
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
BossMann wrote:Wow!
Wings of storm re-incarnated as the Qatari Air Force Aerobatic team - never heard of such a thing before.
Anyways, the croatians never managed to make it to the UK due to financial problems in Croatia, maybe we will get to see them in the UK in Qatari colours?
I would hope British airshows wouldn't be seen to be pandering to Qatar by booking them.
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Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
Tommy wrote:I thought similar about the UAE's Al Fursan. Didn't they buy the MB339s for the sole purpose of forming an aerobatic team, instead of just using their existing (or buying extra) Hawks because they liked what they saw from the Frecce? That's a whole new aircraft type, supply chain, maintenance, spares etc... just for the purposes of a display team. I'm not knocking the team itself, but it does seem to me to be an unnecessarily complicated and expensive way of doing things.
The Dubai Air Wing, operated MB339s long before Al Fursan came into being. They originally had seven I believe, they have since acquired four ex Italian AF aircraft to top up the team, and yes I think the only reason they still have the MB339 now is for the team purpose.
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
Al Fursan now also have a former Patrouille de France pilot as consultant which will help to differentiate their show from the Frecce routine.
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
DanO1978 wrote:BossMann wrote:Wow!
Wings of storm re-incarnated as the Qatari Air Force Aerobatic team - never heard of such a thing before.
Anyways, the croatians never managed to make it to the UK due to financial problems in Croatia, maybe we will get to see them in the UK in Qatari colours?
I would hope British airshows wouldn't be seen to be pandering to Qatar by booking them.
So British airshows should, in effect, take a political stance and disregard a brand new team from a pretty exotic air arm equipped with a type we've never before seen displayed in formation here, should they? Hmm...
A great shame to lose Wings of Storm - among the best teams (turboprop or otherwise) I've ever seen - but good luck to the pilots...
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Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
No loss, makes room for something decent.
If I want to watch crop dusters, I can sit in a field.
If I want to watch crop dusters, I can sit in a field.
That was the best full English breakfast I've had since Gary Wilmot's wedding.
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Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
Ray Purchase wrote:No loss, makes room for something decent.
If I want to watch crop dusters, I can sit in a field.
Have you tried?
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
Pablo wrote:DanO1978 wrote:BossMann wrote:Wow!
Wings of storm re-incarnated as the Qatari Air Force Aerobatic team - never heard of such a thing before.
Anyways, the croatians never managed to make it to the UK due to financial problems in Croatia, maybe we will get to see them in the UK in Qatari colours?
I would hope British airshows wouldn't be seen to be pandering to Qatar by booking them.
So British airshows should, in effect, take a political stance and disregard a brand new team from a pretty exotic air arm equipped with a type we've never before seen displayed in formation here, should they? Hmm...
A great shame to lose Wings of Storm - among the best teams (turboprop or otherwise) I've ever seen - but good luck to the pilots...
I take it you're OK with a country who deny a visa to anyone who has visited Israel?
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
DanO1978 wrote:
I take it you're OK with a country who deny a visa to anyone who has visited Israel?
RIAT better hurry to cancel that C-130 then, lest you'd have to avert your gaze when it arrives this summer.
They had also better avoid any aircraft from Saudi-Arabia, Kuwait and Pakistan. Did you refuse to commentate when the Saudi Hawks were over in 2011, or were you ok with that?
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
DanO1978 wrote:Pablo wrote:DanO1978 wrote:BossMann wrote:Wow!
Wings of storm re-incarnated as the Qatari Air Force Aerobatic team - never heard of such a thing before.
Anyways, the croatians never managed to make it to the UK due to financial problems in Croatia, maybe we will get to see them in the UK in Qatari colours?
I would hope British airshows wouldn't be seen to be pandering to Qatar by booking them.
So British airshows should, in effect, take a political stance and disregard a brand new team from a pretty exotic air arm equipped with a type we've never before seen displayed in formation here, should they? Hmm...
A great shame to lose Wings of Storm - among the best teams (turboprop or otherwise) I've ever seen - but good luck to the pilots...
I take it you're OK with a country who deny a visa to anyone who has visited Israel?
While you've gone out beyond Mars on the off-topic front, Dan, I'm not defending Qatar, rather just questioning whether, if offered international assets of that kind of calibre, an organiser would really wave them away based on the reasons you suggested. Personally I'd very much welcome the (of course, at this stage theoretical) chance to see this team in the UK and - rightly or wrongly - wouldn't exactly be thinking politics when watching/photographing it but there we are: from airshow talk to Panorama we go again...
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
Can you call Qatar Emiri Air Force display team a national display team if it's made up of Croations? The only sort of comparison that could be made would be the Saudi Hawks and how they get assistance from ex Red Arrow pilots or how Al Fursan bought the MB339 based on the Frecce which has already been metioned, even then it's a big difference between them.
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
DanO1978 wrote:I take it you're OK with a country who deny a visa to anyone who has visited Israel?
Who gives a toss.. All we care about is there is a display team flying, regardless of what country they are from, what colour underwear they wear or choice of wine gum colour!
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
I think some middle ground needs to be found perhaps? "who gives a toss?" is rather a simplistic viewpoint imho - plenty of people would. Airshows are huge public (usually) events with the public profile that goes with that and I would be very surprised if political situations are simply ignored. Russia have not been invited to RIAT for example.
That said, as the previous poster points out, there are plenty of countries with (to put it mildly) iffy political situations who do feature at UK airshows.
Do I give a toss? Not especially, but I wouldn't totally disregard these things quite so flippantly.
Chris
That said, as the previous poster points out, there are plenty of countries with (to put it mildly) iffy political situations who do feature at UK airshows.
Do I give a toss? Not especially, but I wouldn't totally disregard these things quite so flippantly.
Chris
"There's only one way of life, and that's your own"
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
it's like how everyone was complaining about an authoritarian country with poor freedom of the press and controversial human rights record sent their Black Knights team over, remember? No one was happy with them!
All the cries for them to be denied entry...
All the cries for them to be denied entry...
Last edited by Wissam24 on Sun 08 Mar 2015, 9:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
I thought their display team was called the Thunderbirds
"There's only one way of life, and that's your own"
Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
*awaits Godwin's law to be invoked*
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Re: Croatian Wings of Storm no more
Chris Strawson wrote:I thought their display team was called the Thunderbirds
I was tempted to make that joke actually, but thought it would be a tad too edgy
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