A page in the history of military aviation is being turned. The latest Mirage III DS will make its final flights on Thursday. It will take off twice from the Payerne military airfield. The aircraft will be piloted by Neuchâtel resident Thierry Goetschmann. It will also be, as indicated in the Bulcom, the last flights for the retired colonel and former commander of the pilot schools of the Swiss Air Force. He explained Wednesday, in La Matinale, that the history of the Mirage III began in Switzerland at the end of the fifties. “The Air Force got rid of all these aircraft in 2003 and the Military Aviation Museum in Payerne had the opportunity to extend the life of the Mirage III by stealing a two-seater”. Thierry Goetschmann also indicated that this plane was an aesthetic success. “I think it impressed a lot of people with its triangular wing and then it’s a plane that flies very well. It is still today the Ferrari of the air. (…) At the end of the fifties, it was designed to fly twice, even more than twice the speed of sound, which modern military aircraft no longer do”.
A whole infrastructure is put in place on Thursday for these last two flights. The first will leave in the morning at 10:40 a.m. and the second in the afternoon at 2:45 p.m. On this occasion, the Neuchâtelois will say goodbye to piloting “It is indeed tomorrow (note: Thursday) afternoon, the last flight where I will be at the controls of an aircraft. There is a moment, you have to know when to stop. And I made the decision that it would be by descending from the Mirage III”. /sma
#Swiss
