This show led by the Air and Space Force will be held this Friday, June 28 to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the institution. A show that will be held in front of more than 20,000 people. Other events are planned for the occasion.
Next Friday, June 28, the relative tranquility of the Versailles sky will fade for a few hours to give way to the sometimes deafening noise of military aircraft. There is no need to worry, however, since the Air and Space Force will take over the Palace of Versailles to celebrate its 90th anniversary.
For the occasion, the Palace of Versailles and the army are pulling out all the stops by joining forces to offer a unique show of its kind: a unique air show associated with the Grandes Eaux Nocturnes of the Palace of Versailles. will be held Friday evening.
A necessary return to basics
Before that, the first memorial part of the event will take place through a ceremony held at the small stable on Thursday June 27. An important solemn moment according to the spokesperson for the Air and Space Force, Lieutenant Yann Malard.
“We must always celebrate, celebrate, take a time where we stop for a few moments to look at what has been done and also project ourselves,” judges this former fighter pilot to BFMTV.com, who points out the link history of the air force with the castle of Louis XIV.
“The Air Force is essentially descended from the cavalry. Its staff was in the small stable of the Palace of Versailles. Then the air school, during its first two years between 1935 and 1937, was in this little stable, that’s why we wanted, over these 90 years, to go back to our roots,” relates the soldier.
Meetings with French astronauts
The second part is held at the Palais des Congrès in Versailles, for an event focused “on the projection, to prepare the formation, the training, the capabilities of the Air Force of tomorrow, the aviator of the future”.
A few days before the exact anniversary of the institution, July 2, the day of the signing of the 1934 law formalizing the creation of the Air Force, the event “will be the occasion of a privileged meeting between the general public and aviators”. Located a stone’s throw from the royal courtyard of the castle, the institution’s eponymous exhibition takes place at the Palais des Congrès this Thursday, June 27, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
On site, several conferences will be organized with pilots from the Air Force, the Patrouille de France but also with astronauts.
“We became an Air and Space Army in 2020, because we see that there is a continuum between the third dimension and the spatial character. And today, we see that tensions are also materializing with this spatial field is another dimension that will open up to us,” analyzes Lieutenant Yann Malard.
A perspective which therefore pushes the Air Force staff to emphasize the theme of Space, popularized in recent years in France in particular by the French astronaut Thomas Pesquet whose presence is even whispered during the Versailles event.
This Thursday will conclude with a dance show at the Palais des Congrès in Versailles, before holding a ceremony of presentation to the flag of military air technicians and non-commissioned officers which will end with the baptism of the promotion 2023 of the air and space school.
A colorful aerial program
Friday June 28, and more particularly its evening, will mark the apotheosis of this anniversary. The most spectacular part of this festival will therefore combine a unique air show with the famous nighttime Grandes Eaux of the Palace of Versailles.
The program planned in the skies of Versailles on Friday from 8 p.m. promises to be impressive: demonstration of special forces aboard a Caracal helicopter, parachutist ambassadors from the Phénix team, French aerobatic team, world champion of the discipline, dynamic demonstration of the maneuverability of the large A400M carrier, demonstration of the Rafale fighter plane and obviously a show given by the AlphaJets of the Patrouille de France.
This air show, promised by the organization as “exceptional”, will last 1 hour 15 minutes. Later, around 11 p.m., a show of several hundred drones accompanied by a large-scale pyrotechnic show will then close this anniversary evening which will be held in front of the 20,000 people who were able to purchase a place in time.
“Meet the French”
Despite a price of 50 euros per place in the castle gardens, part of the profits of which will be donated to the Foundation for Social Works of the Air, the show has been sold out for weeks. Faced with this enthusiasm, Lieutenant Yann Malard specifies that to avoid “causing frustration”, the aerial demonstrations of June 28 and the ceremony the day before will be broadcast on the army’s social networks.
In addition, a dedicated village will be set up at the end of Avenue de Paris, as not everyone will be able to enter the castle gardens. “There will be an Alpha Jet, a Mirage 2000, simulators and aviators who will be there to allow all those who want to pass, to experience a popular and general public moment meeting the Air Force and of Space”, specifies the lieutenant.
“Beyond the air show, our goal is above all to meet the French because we are in a closed environment, in bases, in operation… And in this type of event we can meet people. There, nearly 5,000 aviators will be in the castle gardens, an ideal moment to share passion, history, anecdotes…”, finally analyzes spokesperson Yann Malard.
On the ground, but also in the air, alongside the demonstration of force, the institution ultimately aims to make all generations dream. And perhaps, who knows, to allow a few young shoots to take the plunge to one day be part of the 4,000 annual recruits claimed by the French Air and Space Force.
Alexis Lalemant Journalist
