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As winter is set to close and spring moves in, with another airshow season to start soon, it was also time to open the hangar doors at our homebase to let the Bronco fans see Bronco 99+18 in her new colors. This Royal Bavarian Air Force scheme was already applied to 99+18 in the early 1980's, while the aircraft was based at München-Riem. Saturday was the annual crew chief training to review the 2014 season, getting current to the procedures as well as a nice get together in the evening. For his outstanding and unrelenting support to Bronco Demo Team during the 2014 season Tom Houquet was awarded the coveted Award of Excellence. |
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Sunday morning started busy with putting the Bronco outside to welcome the visitors. While she got a final clean up, other members where occupied to prepare the hangar and barbecue. Soon after lunch the first fans arrived. It’s always nice to see old friends again and make new ones too! Over the day, hundreds of pictures where taken, lots of questions asked and answered. Besides the possibility to get up close with aircraft and crew, the merchandising articles where in big demand. Among the highlights are for sure the new patches and stickers of the Royal Bavarian Air Force theme as well as 5 years Bronco Demo Team. | |
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| Speaking of highlights... One was to see our cheerleaders in their Bavarian Dirndl dresses. But, what would a Fan Day be without some flying? What makes our Bronco special is, that you can hear her, smell her and feel her flying. Sadly, the weather was not as good as last year. This did not prevent us from having fun. No idea, if the flying part was more special for the fans or the crew, as two crew chiefs got their first Bronco rides. This time the Germans got airborne! | |||
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Markus took the seat behind Tony. His relation with the Bronco started on his birthday in 2000, when he joined Tony De Bruyn and Danny Nuydens restoring Bronco 99+32 and 99+26 in Fassberg, while being a member of Fassberg aeroclub. He became a Crew Chief once Bronco Demo Team was formed. In 2010, the idea came up to bring Bronco 99+32 back to Lübeck for a reunion with the RFB people who had worked on her in active service. This visit was organised by a Lübeck air traffic controler Thomas, who's grandfather flew Sea Fury Target tugs and a short while before that FW190Ds. Thomas grew up with the Broncos and joined BDT also as soon as it was formed too. This time, he took the place of the winch operator and was the second one for whom a dream came true that day. |
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| The Bronco took of from runway 06, performing two traffic patterns and a go around before landing in front of the Bronco fans. After the flight, the Bronco was joined by an AT6 Harvard. Another nice photo opportunity to catch two famous North American aircraft together. Everybody confirmed that it was another great day meeting the team and the unique airplane and wished us well to a great 2015 season. | |||
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