Last August, the Radom airshow, the biggest aviation event in Poland, made a triumphant return after a five-year hiatus. Taking place during the last week-end of August 2023, the airshow attracted a huge crowd of spectators, both from Poland and from abroad. The many aviation enthusiasts made the trip to see some of the very last remaining Soviet equipment in Europe. Indeed, Poland is the last European country to operate the Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter and the MiG-29 Fulcrum. Radom 2023 was maybe the last airshow to catch them, since they are to be sold to Ukraine and replaced by newer equipment. The show, usually organized every two years by the Polish Air Force, had skipped a few editions, and the last one had been in 2018. During the break, Radom airport underwent big works with a new apron and a new terminal, as well as a 500 meters extension of the runway.
The static exhibition was not the most interesting compared to other airshows or previous editions of Radom, yet some nice pieces could be seen. The lineup featured a Danish F-16 (appearing for one of the last times), USAF KC-135 and US Army AH-64E Apache, Hungarian H-145M, Croatian UH-60M Black Hawk and OH-58 Kiowa, German P-3C Orion and A400M, as well as two L-410 Turbolets from Lithuania and Slovakia. Many aircraft of the Polish inventory were presented, such as a Su-22, a MiG-29, a FA-50, an F-16, a M-346, a PZL Orlik, and a C-130H. Also some very interesting helicopters took part to the static display, such as a PZL W-3, Mi-2, Mi-8, or Mi-14.
The dynamic part of the airshow was mostly similar between the two days of the airshow, yet there were some differences. On both days the show started in the morning with some historical aircraft opening the show. The first demonstration came from a RWD-8 replica. The RWD-8 was one of the most produced Polish aircraft and was used before World War II. Some other historical aircraft took part to the show, such as a T-6 Harvard.
The civilian part of the flying display involved a few interesting pieces, such as a pair of RedBull Alphajets which performed a sunset flight on the Saturday, as well as a pair of Lim-15 (the Polish licence-built version of the MiG-15 aircraft, a single-seater and a dual-seater examples) and a pair of TS-11 Iska, recently retired from service from the Polish Air Force. Felix Baumgartner flew a very impressive display on Red Bull's BO-105.
The Polish Air Force did a great job at showcasing their old and newer equipment to the public during Radom 2023. The beginning of the display involved a parade with a huge number of aircraft (see below for the full story about that parade). A Close Air Support (CAS) demonstration was held after, with a pair of Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter aircraft performing a Show of Force. That was one of the highlights of the show, yet too short for us! Other assets were the Polish Tiger Demo Team showing a nice load of flares during the sunset show, as well as a M-346 trainer which did its solo display for the first time. A Polish Navy PZL M-28 aircraft and a C295 CASA sporting ‘Wawel Dragon’ paint scheme were also displayed in the skies of Radom.
The highlight of the show happened during the Saturday evening, with two main events. A Su-22 Fitter did a pair of flypasts using a KKR-1 recce pod. The illumination charges, used as a flash for night recce sorties, were dropped from the pod during two low passes and illuminated the aircraft for brief instants. Later in the night, a C-130H of the Polish Air Force performed a very impressive demonstration, more specifically a spectacular drop of flares over Radom airport. That was a must-see and a moment suspended in time.
Quite a few international solo displays came to Radom for this year's edition, with the Finnish Hornet solo, Danish F-16, HAF ZEUS Demo Team on the F-16, and the Belgian Air Component F-16 solo display for one of its very last international shows (the team having announced the definitive stop of the F-16 solo display in 2024), along with the British Typhoon, or the Czech Air Force Gripen. That number and variety of displays places the Polish show among the main European air show events – with all of the major European solo demos present here. Apart from the Polish Team Orlik, the only aerobatic team representing an air force was the Patrouille Suisse on their F-5s Tiger II.
Finally, the helicopter part of the show included an EH-101 Merlin helicopter, recently delivered to the Polish Navy, which performed a joint display with an AW-149. Czech and Polish PZL W-3 helicopters also did the show, the latter being a Search and Rescue version of the helicopter.
Both days of the show, a parade was organized by the Polish Air Force, showcasing a huge number of equipment, with no less than 64 aircraft and helicopters! The variety went from school training airplanes to fighter jets, and light to heavy helicopters. Notably, the flypast started with the slowest aircraft, and went all the way to fast jets closing this part of the show.
Diamond DA-42, Aermecchi M-346, PZL Orlik and Robinson R44 shared the sky with F-16s, Su-22 Fitters and MiG-29 Fulcrum aircraft. C-130H, CASA C295, as well as a Gulfstream G550 and a Boeing 737 completed the airplane part of the parade. The helicopter part of the formation included some Mi-2, PZL W-3, Mi-17, Mi-8, Mi-14, UH-60M Black Hawk.
The last part of the parade was a formation flight of a FA-50 with a MiG-29. This was a symbolic moment, since the old soviet aircraft is being replaced by the new Korean fighter among the Polish Air Force. The first two FA-50 were delivered only a few days before Radom air show, so it was their first public appearance (one being in the air and the other on the static display). The aircraft was flown by Korean test pilot with a Polish pilot in the backseat.
