Open day, Sliac, 2002
Sliac is one of the most important bases of the Slovakian Air Force. The 31st Fighter Wing is based here, flying MiG-21MFs and MiG-29s, together with training and support planes (L-410, L-39ZA and Mi-17). There are two more combat units in the Slovakian Air Force, the 34th Helicopter Wing at Presov and the 33rd Fighter-Bomber Wing at Malacky, flying Sukhoi Su-22M4s.
The Sliac Wing opens its doors to the public on the first weekend of June each year with a friendly, familiar manner.
In 2002, the most important types of the Slovakian Air Force and some planes from abroad were on static display. The German Tornado IDS, F-4F Phantom and the Dutch F-16AM are frequent performers in the air shows of this region. The presence of the Armée de'l Air's Mirage F-1CTs was a little bit surprising. Two French fighterbombers arrived, but only one of them was exhibited on the static display, because of the lack of space. It was interesting to see the brownish Slovakian Mi-17 and Mi-24 choppers, the desert camouflaged L-29 Delfin, and the MiG-29 with tiger motif.
Not far from the static display there were old MiG-21s standing on the grass which were phased out of service. Most of the Fishbeds were metal colour MF versions, but there was at least one MiG-21F-13 along with some MiG-21R reconnaissance versions. One of the latter group wore an interesting bluish camouflage. Most of the planes wore Slovakian national marks, but some of them had the former Czechoslovakian insignia.
The display teams were represented by the most silent of them: the four Blanik glider of the Očovski Bačovia team were towed by two Zlin 142s and a radial-engine L-60S Brigadyr. The demonstration, as usual, was very well executed.
One of the unique performances was done by a Blanik glider which was towed up without a cockpit canopy. After release, the backseater crawled out to the half of the port wing, sat on the leading edge, and waved his hands to the public. After half a minute he jumped off the wing and opened his parachute.
The series of jet solo displays was opened by an L-39 Albatros, followed by some heavier fighters. The Dutch F-16AM demonstrated that the more powerful engine of the MLU planes provides better flying characteristics. However it became clear that in the vertical manoeuvres the plane is still inferior to the MiG-29.
There were two demos with Fulcrums. The solo display was followed by a two ship dogfight, with some dropping of flares. Much to the delight of the photographers, the MiG-21 family was represented by one of pure metal colour. We were able to shoot beautiful pictures as the plane took off and circled in the sunshine in front of the mountains.
The jet displays were repeated in the afternoon, but by then the angle of the sun prevented us from taking more pictures.
The open day at Sliac is an excellent event in its category and it gives a nice picture of the local wing and the Slovakian Air Force.