Patrouille Suisse

The Patrouille Suisse is an aerobatic team of the Swiss Air Force. The team flies six Northrop F-5E Tiger II fighter/bomber jets.

Swiss Air Force Aerobatic team
Patrouille Suisse
Patrouille Suisse insignia
Active8 August 1964 – present
Country  Switzerland
BranchSwiss Air Force
RoleAerobatic team
Size9 officers, 21 ground crew
ColorsRed, White
Aircraft flown
Fighter6 Northrop F-5E Tiger II
Transport1 Pilatus PC-6 Porter

History
The team flying Hawker Hunters in 1991

The Patrouille Suisse was founded on August 22, 1964 with four Hawker Hunters. Two displays were also flown 1968 with the Dassault Mirage IIIS under the name "Patrouille de Suisse Mirage". Other than those shows the Patrouille Suisse retained the Hunter. In 1970, a fifth aircraft was added to the team, followed by the sixth shortly thereafter. In 1977 a smoke system was introduced.[1]

The Patrouille Suisse flew its Hawker Hunters for the last time in 1994 and transitioned to the faster and more maneuverable Northrop F-5E Tiger II adding smoke systems in 1996. In April the following year, a Pilatus PC-6 Porter single-engine turboprop light aircraft was assigned as a support aircraft, painted in the team's colour scheme.[2]

In February 2013, the Swiss Minister of Defence, Ueli Maurer, stated that the Patrouille Suisse would be disbanded by early 2016 due to the withdrawal of the F-5 from service.[3] One possible plan was to equip the team with the F/A-18, but since the decision not to buy 22 Gripen Es was made, the air force will have insufficient F/A-18s to do this.[4]

As of the summer of 2014 the new plan is that by the end of 2016 the team will move from six F-5Es to four F/A-18Cs. Fewer air displays will be flown and the aircraft will probably not receive special paint.[5] There are still plans by the Swiss Air Force and in the Swiss parliament to operate eighteen F-5E and four F-5F until 2018. This would also include the continued operation of the Patrouille Suisse flying the F-5E until 2018.[6][7] A unique Flight Demonstration was performed by the Patrouille Suisse on September 7, 2014 at the Air14 Air Show in Payerne as they flew a 15-plane display with the PC-7 Team.[8]

Accidents

On June 9, 2016 two of the Northrop F-5E Tiger II collided in mid-air, while training for the Royal Netherlands Air Force airshow at Leeuwarden Air Base. One aircraft crashed in a pond near Beetgum after the pilot safely ejected, while the other was damaged, but landed safely.[9][10] It was the first accident the team has had.

F-5's in formation over ILA Berlin Air Show in 2010

Aircraft

The Patrouille Suisse normally operates six Northrop F-5E Tiger II aircraft out of total of twelve F-5Es that are maintained in team colors. Since 1996 ten aircraft are able to accept one of the eight smoke generators that were made by RUAG.[11] When fitted with a smoke generator, including the two 40 litres (8.8 imp gal; 11 US gal) bottles of diesel, the right gun of the F-5E is disabled.[12]

The teams F-5Es are also used for other purposes such as training and as target tugs flown by Target Squadron 12, facilitated by their high visibility colouring.[13][14]

A Pilatus PC-6 V-622 "Felix", painted in Patrouille Suisse colours, transports the commander, announcer and the team groundcrew.[15][16]

See also

References
  1. Insider (Patrouille Suisse Fanclub Newspaper) 2014 Page 9
  2. Patrouille Suisse photo gallery - official Swiss Air Force website (in German) Archived 2013-06-14 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 20 June 2013
  3. "20 minutes - Maurer annonce la mort de la Patrouille suisse - Suisse". 20min.ch. Retrieved 2013-06-21.
  4. Patrouille Suisse bei Gripen-Ja mit F/A-18 Thurgauer Zeitung
  5. "So will Maurer die Armee noch schneller verkleinern". baz.ch/.
  6. "Suche - Resultate".
  7. "Suche - Resultate".
  8. "HTTP Error 404". air14.ch. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  9. "Straaljager neergestort bij Bitgum". lc.nl. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  10. "Swiss Air Force Pilot Ejects After Formation Midair - AVweb flash Article". avweb.com. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  11. "Northrop F-5E Tiger II". 2 May 2014. Archived from the original on 28 July 2016.
  12. Insider2014 (Patrouille Suisse Fanclub newspaper) 2014 Page 23
  13. "14.3575 - Zukunft der Tiger-Flotte und der Patrouille Suisse nach dem Nein zum Gripen - Curia Vista - Geschäftsdatenbank - Die Bundesversammlung - Das Schweizer Parlament".
  14. Leistungsspektrum Northrop F-5E/F Tiger II Archived 2014-05-17 at the Wayback Machine
  15. "Bildgalerie Pilatus PC-6/B2-H2M Turbo-Porter". Lw.admin.ch. 2009-08-29. Retrieved 2013-06-21.
  16. "Geschichte". patrouille-suisse-felix.ch. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
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