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Aeroexpo Marrakech 2008: |
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An airshow the Moroccan way
Only recently Ryan Air started a connection between Niederrhein and Marrakesh. After a four hour flight the wheels of the B737 touched Moroccan ground. It felt like a climate shock, going from freezing Holland into a 25 degrees hot desert. No complains there however! After picking up our rental car we went to our hotel in the city center. Well, to be honest, we got lost somewhere in the city center…
After a good night rest we went out to the base early on Friday 25
January. Being there before the crowed normally means the best chance
for ok pictures. Entering the static display we found out the taking
good pictures was Main absence appeared to be from the home based aircraft. None of the based T-34 Mentors, T-37 Tweets, CAP10s nor a AS202 was displayed or even visible out on the base. They were all stowed away in hangars, not accessible to the public. We had the impression that the military considers these beauties as old rubbish and they are not proud to show them off. Shame! Out on the flight line were about a dozen Fouga Magisters parked in storage. We were also not allowed to go there. Same story here. There was also some minimal international military participation the form of two Aviano F-16s, a Mildenhall based MC-130P and a Spanish Casa C295. Nice detail, the USAF Combat Shadow performed night flights from Marrakech on daily basis. I guess they were uniting useful with pleasant. In addition to this military hardware there were also several civil aircraft on display. Since they are not part of our hobby, we left them for what they are. A modest flying display was scheduled as well. This consisted mainly of civil aircraft. To us the most enjoyable one was the French (former German) Bronco. This guy gave an appalling good display! The only flying performance from Moroccan Air Force side was a fly-by from 4 Alpha Jets and a water drop by a C-130. Not bad of course, but travelling so many miles for just viewing this, even with back light…
Saturday 26 January was a straight copy from the day before. Therefore we tried to picture the air display from the other side of the base, at the civil terminal. Since there were many (bureaucratic) blocks on the road we didn’t really succeed in that. This aside, we had a really enjoyable stay in Morocco. We would like to compliment the organization and encourage them to move on with this concept. And please be proud of what you’ve got, show it off before it ends up in a museum!
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Home © Fred & Maurice 2001-2008 |
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Normally the month of October somewhat
marks the end of the spotters season. Some enthusiasts fetch back behind
their computers and sort out the catch from the past six months. Others
start the hibernation and wait for things to come when the new seasons
starts about next May. This time we decided to do it different. On the
net we found information about an International Aero Expo to be held in
Marrakesh in January, including military participation. This would be
the first time the Moroccan Air Force opens up to the international
public. Although we had no clue what to expect, we decided this was an
event not to miss. On top of that, who wouldn’t like temperatures of
+25 degrees in mid winter!)
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