FighterControl

Hi all

Seriously thinking of going after viewing lots of UT vids for previous years.

Anyone else thinking of it or has been with comments to share.

MTIA

John

John

I went in 2014 & it was excellent. We had photo passes & the Moroccan military were very efficient & friendly. The airfield is single runway & the light is against you when the display is on. To get the best results you need to go around to the other side of the airfield where there is a football pitch giving you plenty of scope for panning.
However, I was told that the 2016 show was very different & there was far less Moroccan Air Force participation with a lot more international aerospace involvement with all the predictable participants.
We had flypasts by Pumas, Gazelles, AB205, T6 Texan II, CL415, Mirage F1, Alpha Jets, F16C, KC130 & F5E. If you Google to find out what was available to photograph in 2016 I think you will find it was much reduced.

I would suggest checking their website to see what variety is planned

Regards
Arthur

Hi Arthur

Can you tell me where the "bases" aircraft go ... the Bravo 202's and the stored CM.170's. Sadly having seen and logged both types while on a visit in 2009 I've lost my log!

Are they still easily visual? ... and I notice this year there are flying display slots each afternoon before the public day, do the fly throughs come from other bases or are they present from day one?

Sorry for the questions

Kind regards

John

Hi John

The airshow ramp contained all the static stuff & the other based stuff was well out of view in the hangar area which is not at all accessible. The stored CM170s & AT6s could only been seen from a distance when on the opposite side of the airfield on the football pitch. This was also the same for the preserved stuff on sticks.

On the second day, we paid someone to use the roof of their flats to get up higher & shoot the stuff from there. The choppers that were active were parked out on the open grass area & could only be seen on the ground from that location. The flypasts were not the same on each day & most of the stuff came from other bases. The CL415s, AB205s, Green March & CN235 took off locally. On this basis, you need to get shots of the formation flypasts otherwise you won't get the serials. Most of the jets flew through in 4 ship formations & the Herk tanker was with 2 F16, 2 Mirage & 2 F5. If you stayed on the airshow side you will probably not get serials from the photos as you will be straight into the sun.

Did not see any Bravos - must have been replaced by the T6 Texan IIs? I see from Scramble that they were last seen in service in April 2014.

At the end of the public show we hung on until kicked out about 8pm. They almost completely dismantled the static & this gave the chance for some better shots as the stuff was moved to a nearby taxiway awaiting departure in the morning.

Feel free to ask anymore questions & you can always e-mail me directly on arthur.john.payne@gmail.com

Regards
Arthur

I was there in 2016. Flying on the opening day was with two Puma, s, one Chinook and four F16,s.
Rest of the week was no fly past, only two stunt teams a day, and a visiting Casa.
On Saturday 4 F16s did one flyby and again some stunt teams.
So flying was really disappointing for me.
Static is okay during press days. On Saturday it was extremely crowded.
Regards Pieter

Thanks for your help guys ... Arthur I'll drop you line over the weekend.

MTIA

John

I went in 2014. Twelve of the AS.202s you are enquiring about were seen whilst on base, but were inside a hangar well away from the static displays. Despite many requests we were not allowed to go inside to photograph them, and I believe that later in the day the area was closed off and unaccessible after that. Probably due to the many requests to photograph them! Of the T-6s that are based there, a small number were on base, but many were flown out before the show and arrived back the day after it ended from memory. They were all parked in a row and viewable from the airport termnal, which is where I saw them from on my way back to the UK. As stated before, 2016 was very different to 2014 and too be honest and there were very few home-based military aircraft involved. Based on what happened in 2016 I would not bother going!

P.S. I only visited on Press Days and also went outside one day to photograph the flypasts and it was darn hot standing in the sun all day!

nellis6 wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 25, 2018 7:54 am

I went in 2014. Twelve of the AS.202s you are enquiring about were seen whilst on base, but were inside a hangar well away from the static displays. Despite many requests we were not allowed to go inside to photograph them, and I believe that later in the day the area was closed off and unaccessible after that. Probably due to the many requests to photograph them! Of the T-6s that are based there, a small number were on base, but many were flown out before the show and arrived back the day after it ended from memory. They were all parked in a row and viewable from the airport termnal, which is where I saw them from on my way back to the UK. As stated before, 2016 was very different to 2014 and too be honest and there were very few home-based military aircraft involved. Based on what happened in 2016 I would not bother going!

P.S. I only visited on Press Days and also went outside one day to photograph the flypasts and it was darn hot standing in the sun all day!

Morning Mike

Thank you for your input, greatly appreciated. Yes I'm getting the vibs of the shows getting worse as time goes on however the "Official blurb" sounds as if they've pulled their socks up for this year.

I guess my drive for going is because I've lost my logs there for a visit in June 2009 when I took a VC-10 in there. At that time we were parked near to the CM.170's and the AS.202's were not far away, infact I seem to recollect seeing the all fleet except 2! We had guards right at the aircraft steps and camera's were forbidden which was sad and for me most frustrating.

At this moment in time I'm still planning to go so any other snippets would be most welcomed.

Thank you

Regards

John

My photo report is here if you're interested http://www.jetwashaviationphotos.com/ma ... rshow.html

Hi folks, thanks for all your inputs. So far very good static, one of most RMAF. Four formations on opening day. 4 x F16, 4x Mirage, 4x F5 and 4x T6. Only failed to get one F5. Cleared the main hangar; 9x T6, 6x AS202 + Cap 10's and 231's.

No flying today because of forecast bad weather.

John

Hi folk ... Just back from a week in Marrakech for the bi-annual airshow

Here's the log:

Marrakech 24/10/18 - Press day

ZZ331 A.330 10SQN RAF (Dep AM 26TH)
168438/LK P.8A VP-26 US.NAVY (Parked by the terminal and Dep AM 27th)
93-0603 C-17A 445AW USAF
64-14828 KC-135R 191 ARS USAF UT.ANG
07-8609/RS C-130J 37 AS USAF
166759/MV-42 AH-1Z VMX-1 USMC
09-05683 AH-64D 6/C CAV US.ARMY UT.NG
16704 CN.295M Esc.502 Port.AF
P2 T-129 ATAK Tu.AF
CN-ATP/TP CL.415MP Train Sqn RMAF
CN-ANG B.200 Train Sqn RMAF
CN-AMB/MB C.235M Trans Sqn RMAF
CN-AKD/30 AB.205A RMAF
CN-ARI/09 SA.330F RMAF
CN-AQR/18 AB.206B RMAF
CN-AUB/111 AS.202 RMAF
CN-ABH/184 CAP.10C RMAF
CN-ALJ/J CH-47D RMAF
CN-AMO/MO C-27J RMAF
08-8006 F-16C RMAF
08-8024 F-16D RMAF
170 MIRAGE F.1 EM RMAF
238 ALPHAJET RMAF
91924 F-5E RMAF
21/TU T-6C RMAF
CN-AOR/OR KC-130H RMAF
112/CN-AHB AS.565MB F11 MARINE

Flying Side (* Fly throughs)

CN-ANI B.200 RMAF
CN-ATN/TN CL.415MP RMAF
CN-ATQ/TQ CL.415MP RMAF
CN-AMD/MD C.235M RMAF
CN-ARU/21 SA.330F RMAF
CN-ARW/23 SA.330L RMAF
CN-ASB/28 SA.330L RMAF
CN-ABP/28 CAP.232 RMAF (6)
CN-ABQ/29 CAP.232 RMAF (7)
CN-ABR/31 CAP.232 RMAF (2)
CN-ABS/36 CAP.232 RMAF (3)
CN-ABT/37 CAP.232 RMAF (1)
CN-ABU/41 CAP.232 RMAF (5)
CN-ABV/42 CAP.232 RMAF (4)
CN-ABW/43 CAP.232 RMAF (-)

08-8001 F-16C*
08-8005 F-16C*
08-8007 F-16C*
08-8012 F-16C*
128 MIRAGE F.1 EM-V1*
149 MIRAGE F.1 EM-V1*
159 MIRAGE F.1 EM-V1*
172 MIRAGE F.1 EM-V1*
91936 F-5E*
91940 F-5E*
91942 F-5F*
91944 F-5F*
04/TD T-6C*
05/TE T-6C*
14/TN T-6C*
24/TX T-6C*

Visitors

CN-AMH G.550 RMAF
CN-AMK C.560 RMAF

Preserved

862 /CAN-MH C-119G RMAF (P)
226 CM.170R RMAF (P)

Marrakech 25/10/18 - Press Day (No flying)

Visitors

CN-AMR G.550 RMAF
CN-AON C-130H RMAF
CN-ARZ/26 SA.330L RMAF
E38/8-LH ALPHAJET Fr.AF (Dep AM 27TH)
E142/8-LO ALPHAJET Fr.AF (Dep AM 27TH)

Hangar

CN-ABG/183 CAP.10C RMAF
CN-ABX/44 CAP.232 RMAF
10/TJ T-6C RMAF
11/TK T-6C RMAF
12/TL T-6C RMAF
17/TQ T-6C RMAF
18/TR T-6C RMAF
19/TS T-6C RMAF
20/TT T-6C RMAF
22/TV T-6C RMAF
23/TW T-6C RMAF
CN-AUE/116 AS.202 RMAF
CN-AUI/121 AS.202 RMAF
CN-AUJ/122 AS.202 RMAF
CN-AUK/23 AS.202 RMAF
CN-AUL/128 AS.202 RMAF
CN-AUN/174 AS.202 RMAF

Marrakech 26/10/18 - Press Day (No flying)

Marrakech 27/10/18 Public day (AM some flying, PM scrubbed just after start because of weather

Visitors
CN-AMJ C.560 RMAF

Fly throughs

08-800? F-16C
08-800? F-16C
08-8007 F-16C
08-8010? F-16C
128 MIRAGE F.1EM
149 MIRAGE F.1EM
159 MIRAGE F.1EM
172 MIRAGE F.1EM
91923 F-5E
91936 F-5E
91942 F-5F
91944 F-5F
01/TA T-6C
05/TE T-6C
14/TN T-6C
24/TX T-6C

Gendarmerie Royale (Seen over the four days)

CN-AII SA.330L
CN-AIM SA.330L
CN-AZI S-70A
CN-AZS TB-21
CN-AZY S2R-T660
CN-BZE EC-145
CN-BZG EC-225
CN-BZI AS.550
CN-BZK EC-135
CN-BZL EC-135
CN-MMS AW.139
CN-TWI S2R-T34

Marrakech 28/10/18

56529 (56-3529) T-37C RMAF (Bagged)
56533 (56-3533) T-37C RMAF (Bagged)
56558 (56-3558) T-37C RMAF (Bagged)
56586 (56-3586) T-37C RMAF (Bagged)
56589 (56-3589) T-37C RMAF (Bagged)
57262 (57-2262) T-37C RMAF (Bagged)
57304 (57-2304) T-37C RMAF (Bagged)
58884 (58-1884) T-37C RMAF (Bagged)
58890 (58-1890) T-37C RMAF (Bagged)
58910 (58-1910) T-37C RMAF (Bagged)
58933 (58-1933) T-37C RMAF (Bagged)
59286 (59-0286) T-37C RMAF (Bagged)
59296 (59-0296) T-37C RMAF (Bagged)
60082 (60-0082) T-37C RMAF (Bagged)

Definately worth a trip

John

AW139 CN-MMS its RMAF not Gendarmerie 1st air force base (Rabat/Salé) VIP Squadron