There were two F-35As. One of them gave a splendid show. The pilot was a lady and the crowd gave her a great reception on landing.
BHPian professortarzan recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Here are a few shots from the static display area. These were taken from my phone, I’ll try to post more images from my camera after filtering through them.
The F/A-18 Hornets from US Navy. They looked beautiful with their wings folded up. Some of the personnel were resting under them to avoid the sun, a very expensive umbrella. Neither of the two took part in the fly-by on Friday and I was told the same for Thursday as well.
Supposedly the most advanced fighter jet, the F-35 Lightning. There were two of them, F-35As to be particular. One of them gave a splendid show, the pilot was a lady and she was given a great reception by the crowd on landing.
The mighty SU-30 Flanker of IAF. It may not be the best fighter aircraft, but there is something so striking about it. The design and its imposing stance dwarf its peers. The pilot put up a spectacular show, banking left immediately on take-off and we could feel the engine roar. That was quite an experience.
Both the F-35s with F-16 Falcons next to them. One of the F-16s participated in the show on Friday afternoon.
C-130 Hercules of the Indian Air Force. A bonus pic for the turbo prop fanatics.
An Embraer C-390 of the Brazilian Air Force. They kept one of the engines running the whole day but didn’t participate in the show. Probably an agreement to provide the background sound effects.
Dassault Mirage 2000 of the Indian Air Force. Also in the background are the Dassault Rafale and HAL’s Tejas.
The legendary Jaguar of IAF. I was surprised to see it amidst other ‘newer’ aircrafts.
AH-64 Apache, again of the Indian Air Force. I used to watch documentaries about it 15 years ago as a teen. Imagine the awe looking at one at such close range.
Another indigenous product, the HAL Dhruv. It is proving itself to be quite a versatile platform. To be honest, I feel this has more potential to be exported to other militaries over the Tejas.
NETRA AEW&CS built by DRDO on top of the Embraer ERJ-145 airframe. Love the design.
There was also a SAAB Gripen, where one could sit inside the cockpit and have a picture taken.
I wanted to see the B-1 Lancers but that did not happen on Friday. One of them flew by on Thursday afternoon apparently. I was hoping that the SU-30 would do the Cobra manoeuvre, but that was not part of the show either. But we did get to see it dropping flares, extremely slow fly-by and its thrust vectoring.
Another point to note was that there were no other Russian aircraft in the show. Neither the MiGs nor MI Helis or TUs that are already serving our armed forces. There were rumors that SU-57 might make an appearance but that remained a rumor.
Keyword: Witnessed different aircraft in person at Aero India Show in Bangalore