Swiss Mirage III trials at Holloman AFB 1960s

[chopper2004]

Came across this interesting video on my youtube feed of Swiss Armee Dassault Mirage III trials at Holloman AFb / WSMR in the 1960s. The a/c was ferried on board a USAF MATS C-133 Cargomaster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjlCEi4MSIM

cheers

[blind pew]

Not a fluorescent vest or any other modern safety equipment in sight..how refreshing!..was Brennwald’s son a pilot for swissair?

[walbut]

blind pew
I am afraid I don't know the answer to your question but the mention of the name Brennwald dredged up a memory that has lain undisturbed in the recesses of my brain for the last 35 years or so. Back in about 1989 I took part in the ejection seat pull out trial carried out on the first Swiss Hawk. The Mk 66 was the first Hawk variant to be fitted with the MBA 'lightweight' Mk10L seat. Fred Brennwald was provided by the Swiss Air Force to be the subject of the trial as he was, anthropometrically, the largest pilot in their Air Force at the time. The trial was a success, proving he was unlikely to loose his kneecaps on the console, coaming or canopy arch and all the Swiss aircrew equipment assemblies were compatible with their mating connectors on the seat and in the aircraft. I wonder where he is now?

[DIBO]

I wonder where he is now?Watched the video and just out of curiosity googled around a bit and came across this tribute page: manfred-brennwald-1932-2013 (http://tinyurl.com/yjhbzpxx)

[blind pew]

Thanks for that ..Martin Brennwald joined Swissair in 1979…good bloke who became a trainer and fleet chief..possibly technical pilot on the Fokker 100.
We only had one ex Mirage pilot as they were professionals rather than militia . Flew with him once..excellent pilot and jolly nice bloke who loved Africa and its ladies. Happy days.
A late mate bought the first miniature camcorder with a remote camera and used it to film the hunter in its last days. Watched some excellent footage of a formation flying very low over lake Geneva and some typical swiss mountain flying. Don’t think it was ever published.

[StephanKoelliker]

Some Mirage III S / RS low flying in the Swiss alps (starting at 03:35):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQU1f_bgPFE

S

[blind pew]

Thanks Stephan
reminds me of skiing at Hoch-Ybrig and a hunter came over the top ridge and our heads below 100ft and the air miss report where a pair of mirages came through a cloud layer in a vertical climb and passed either side of a DC10 cockpit. Read it in horror and the skipper said I nearly took out a 747 doing the same.

[StephanKoelliker]

They in fact were flying rather low back in the early 1980s.

Back then I was living near the Emmen airbase, and close to our house - sitting on a small hill - the folks from Oerlikon/Contraves were testing their new "Gepard" anti aircraft system. As far as I remember F-5E Tiger and Mirage III S were used, and they came in very low exactly above our house, aiming for the "Gepard" test site one mile away. For us kids it was a lot of fun of course. I vividly remember the jets sneaking along from below, and the pilots turning them upside down while flying over the top (to avoid negative g, i assume). Occasionally we even could see the pilots greeting the "Gepard" test crew. I certainly was impressed.

No such stunts any more, at least not in our part of he country.

S

[walbut]

DIBO, Thanks for the link to Fred Brennwalds biography. I am sorry to here he has passed away, from my limited time with him at Dunsfold he seemed a really nice guy with lots of relevent experience.

[blind pew]

Shared a house with a militia/ swissair pilot who hit a model aircraft which entered the intake duct on the hunter..the model engine exited the duct and took out the hydraulics and he ended up in the barrier at dubendorf.
Swissair had some of the most skilled pilots I’ve ever flown with especially the romans and the ex Luftwaffe star fighter guys.

[StephanKoelliker]

Shared a house with a militia/ swissair pilot who hit a model aircraft which entered the intake duct on the hunter..

At 19:08, in Swiss German language: "You may go 50 ft up ... to avoid the mosquitoes":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XPkO2uWuho

At 18:00-18-45 they fly in that very area I was mentioning before, although not directly over the former "Gepard" test range which would be a mile or so to the right.

S

[sycamore]

Great video Stephan...how many lo-flying complaints were there.....?

The `English translation` was rubbishh.....!

[India Four Two]

I agree with sycamore, a great video.

I found it interesting that they flew at low-level across towns and cities, including over the Federal Parliament in Bern!

The `English translation` was rubbishh.....!

The Schwizerdütsch subtitles were pretty bad to begin with! :)​​​​​​​

[sycamore]

Interesting that the Hunter,Mirage and F-5 appeared,presumably in pre-planned order over different types particular `parishes` on route...luckily they missed the radio mast on top of the mountain,almost in IMC...

[longer ron]

I am afraid I don't know the answer to your question but the mention of the name Brennwald dredged up a memory that has lain undisturbed in the recesses of my brain for the last 35 years or so. Back in about 1989 I took part in the ejection seat pull out trial carried out on the first Swiss Hawk. The Mk 66 was the first Hawk variant to be fitted with the MBA 'lightweight' Mk10L seat.

Hi Walbut - a minor detail but I am sure that the Mk10 L was used in earlier export Hawks than the Mk66.
I was at Dunsfold 1984 - 2000 and I remember being surprised that some export Hawks had more advanced seats than the RAF T1's
I still have my 2 Dunsfold Ejection seat training booklets which covered all current Harrier a/c but annoyingly only details for the Hawk T1 (even though we were already operating Mk65's),the only reference to the Lightweight Seat is a one para addendum which just states -
Hawk Notes - Some Export versions of Hawk a/c are fitted with Lightweight Ejection seats.The ejection gun is gas operated and therefore does not have a safety pin fitted.In all other respects seat safety pins are similar.

Those of us who were liable to encounter the Mk10 L seat were usually given an additional briefing on the gas operated sear etc.

regards LR