Slight thread drift LOL
I spent a very pleasant 3 weeks with the Swiss AF in 1986,out on the apron there were 2 Venoms parked...The 2 pilots about to strap in were chalk and cheese...one was a 'mature' gentleman (and he was a gentleman) - the other was a youngster !
Chatting to the 'mature' pilot - he was chuckling and saying ''only in the swiss AF could you start and finish your career on the same a/c''
One day there was a sound like a fast vacuum cleaner and (I think) 19 two seat Vampires did a stream landing...fantastic
Most of the aircrew came to look at the 2 Hawks parked on the apron and did not believe me when told that one of them had 1200 hours on the clock,ISTR that the highest time Vampire had (at that time ) just over 2000 hrs.
The moral of this story...The swiss do not fork about and really look after their a/c (the Hunters and F5s were immaculate
) and yes most of the aircrew are part time ...you could tell by the way Swissair a/c were flown...the turns always seemed a little steeper than other airlines
The Hawk T1 is a tough little a/c...I love em