27-28-29 June 1958
The airmeeting of Nations organised by NATO was a great happening and was definitively related to Expo 58.
Extract of Flight Magazine of 4th April 1958:
As part of the Brussels World Fair, the Belgian Air Force is organising a NATO air display to be held at Bierset airfield, just outside Liège, on June 29. Acceptances of invitations to participate have so far been received from the air forces of the USA, France, Canada, West Germany, Turkey, Portugal, Denmark, Greece and Norway. A static exhibition will be open on the airfield from June 27.
The following philatelic items have been published during the happening:
Card with front and back (cancellation last day 29/06/1958):
FDC cover (publisher ?)
Letter cover of the Ministery of Defense of Belgium:
The following story was published after the happening: (of Flight Magazine of 4th July 1958
The weather was almost kind to the seven formation-aerobatic teams at the NATO display at Liege last Sunday; and, though it had tried hard, it could not prevent the arrival of King Baudouin in a Sabena S-58 helicopter or the landing of four F-101C Voodoos and a KC-135 direct from Washington. The KC-135, flown most of the way by Gen. Curtis LeMay and carrying Jacqueline Cochran as passenger, made the trip non-stop in 6 hr 44 min, while the four Voodoos flew the 3,455 n.m. in 6 hr 11 min at an average groundspeed of about 515 kt. They were accompanied most of the way by their five KC-135 tankers, and refuelled three times, although one tanker abandoned the mission and another lost its boom during a refuelling period.
Making their European debut like the Voodoos, two F-104B Starfighters came from the 83rd Fighter/Intercepter Sqn. At Westover A.F.B., but they arrived partly dismantled in C-124s. Though mainly intended as operational trainers, the 104Bs carry the Vulcan six-barrel cannon and Sidewinders. The latter can fire blind using the Lockheed-designed, General Electric-produced AN/ASG-14T1 search-and-tracking radar, but they fire their Vulcan either by visual sight or with an infra-red sight integrated with it. They carry 908 U.S. gal of fuel internally, have V.O.R., A.D.F. and I.L.S. for navigation as well as a data-link system; and each squadron is supplied by Lockheed with a man only four feet tall to climb into the intakes past the fixed shock cones and inspect the engine face for foreign-object damage. Later models will have a suitably placed inspection door. Touch-down speeds around 150 kt are common, though take-off flap and gear can be left extended up to 296 kt. Tyres last for about 25 landings. For a pilot used to F-86s, the F-104 really "takes the breath right out of you," both in acceleration and level speed. And it trails a population-disturbing shock-wave across the ground when flying supersonically at high altitude.
The U.S. Navy also made a "pitch" at the Liege show. From the eastern Mediterranean, Essex sent an A4D-2 Skyhawk with refuelling boom and latest trimmings, and an FJ-3 Fury. Saratoga sent an immaculate A3D-2 Skywarrior, an F3H-2N Demon with semi-retractable refuelling boom and an F8U-1 Crusader with fully retracting boom and a shoe for a Sidewinder on each flank of the forward fuselage. In fact, all the operational U.S.A.F. and U.S. Navy aircraft at Liege were fitted to fire air-to-air or air-toground missiles, except a C-124 and three C-130 Hercules—which are only capable of transporting such stores. The R.A.F. was represented by Hunters, a Shackleton 3 of No. 206 Sqn., a Valiant of No. 7 Sqn., a Vulcan of No. 83 Sqn. and, unofficially, by a Chipmunk. France sent a Taon, Alize, SMB2, Djinn, Alouette Noratlas and Magister. Germany supplied a civil and a military Dornier Do 27, and Belgium the minute Tipsy Nipper. Missile "hardware" included a Nord 5103, a de Havilland Firestreak, a rather forlorn Nike Ajax on a launcher and the latest Bristol Bloodhound, painted a splendid white and mounted on its compact, remote-controlled, transportable launcher. It was stated that Bloodhound is controlled by twisting and steering with allmoving wings and that single missiles or salvos may be fired at a target "illuminated" by a single radar. Target acquisition by this radar may be instigated either from a tactical or early-warning Tadar station.
Altogether twelve NATO nations joined in providing a large variety of types, from a Catalina (Denmark) to the bulletlike F-104B. Belgian parachutists jumped in groups of six and three, the latter landing accurately in an open patch the size of a tennis court after some exceedingly delayed openings. A Caudron and a Bleriot got airborne and spluttered bravely about at 150ft. The Noratlas flew for some way on the power of two tip-mounted Marbore boosters with both Hercules propellers feathered. W/O. Janssens gave a superb display of classic aerobatics in a Stampe SV.4bis and then indulged in a crazy aerial ballet cum dog-fight with another SV.4. A Belgian Spitfire VB passed briefly.
Three of the U.S. Navy types went by in formation, leaving the fourth, the F8U Crusader, to make its own very fast pass, dumping a stream of fuel from each wing-tip the while. A Tactical Air Command KB-50J tanker flew past at full steam with an RB-66B and two F-lOODs hooked up rather like high-speed suckling piglets. Sizeable formations of Norwegian F-86s, Belgian RF-84Fs, Canadian CF-lOOs, Danish F-84Gs, Turkish F-84Gs and Belgian Hunters flew by at various times. Dornier test pilot Schaefer flew the Do 27 in his own inimitable and highly impressive way.
It was indeed a memorable, three-hour aeronautical free-for-all and, considering the controllers' task in handling formations from foreign air forces in heavy haze, the show went off excellently, and with very few pauses. There was a little overlapping, such as when the Dornier climbed up towards No. I l l Sqn. as they dived vertically into their bomb-burst, and when RF-84F swished by during another item. The great show ended when the Belgian Hunters made their downward bomb-burst almost at the instant that four F-84Fs came in "on the deck," biggish "bombs" began to detonate on the ground and two RF-84Fs took off steeply with the urge of four JATO bottles apiece. Seconds later another RF-84F made a drag-chute landing, bringing developed prints of air-to-ground photographs taken throughout the show. With smoke-trailing Hunters diving, rocket-boosted 84Fs climbing, others passing and earth flying from explosions, things became not only distinctly crowded but also somewhat noisy. The crowd oohed and aahed its appreciation. It seemed almost a pity that some of the staging in the grandstands had chosen a rather earlier moment to collapse.
The battle of the giants was, of course, between the seven formation aerobatic teams. There were four black F-84Gs from Greece, four strip -A F-84Gs from Portugal, the nine black Hunters of No. I l l Sqn., six red and silver F-84Fs from Italy, six F-84Gs from Turkey, the U.S.A.F.E. Skyblazers with F-lOOs and five Belgian Hunter F.4s. The thickish haze and troublesome cloud to some extent hampered all the teams, but a momentary drop in cloud-base forced the Skyblazers to a restricted "level show."They contented themselves with the traditional series of afterburning passes, tight turns and a few rolls. The tightness of their formation and precision of flying is still unmatched, but they now make up for a relatively inflexible performance by emitting frequent bursts of dense grey smoke which largely obscured the airfield. They had the noisiest aircraft and the densest smoke.
The Greeks, Portuguese and Turks were something of an unknown quantity, but the Greeks soon established themselves as masterful and smooth fliers with a good sense of showmanship and a fine repertoire of manoeuvres and formation changes. The Portuguese were good showmen and, like the Greeks, made clever use of the clover leaf for positioning. Their formation changes were exceedingly crisp and their vertical upward smoking bombburst and cross-over expertly timed. But they did not quite achieve the performance of the Greeks. The Turks flew six F-84Gs in two vies and made one fine roll in arrow, but they left inexplicably after only a few widely separated manoeuvres.
Masters of the line-abreast loop, the Belgian Hunters showed great flying skill and a crisp, varied performance with plenty of formation changing. They were practically up to the standard of No. I l l Sqn. but they did not quite maintain the pace.
Since the Skyblazers were restricted by weather, the first place was hotly contested by the six Italian F-86Fs of the Diavoli Rossi and the nine Black Arrows of No. I l l Sqn. The Italians drove their aircraft like sports cars, faster, it seemed, than any of the other teams; and they therefore vanished into cloud at the top of every vertical manoeuvre. But their station keeping, variety of formation and the pace of their show left little to be desired. They took off in a ring formation, made a very fast roll and shed the sixth man to continue as a five-aircraft group. It was an exceedingly fine performance which ended in a smoking downward bomb burst followed by quite the hottest and lowest crossover of the afternoon. They landed in card-five formation.
The aerobatic crown of Liege, in our opinion, went to the Hunters of No. I l l Sqn. Their loop and roll in a geometrically precise box of nine is a wonderful spectacle; the rearmost four burst out of the big formation streaming smoke to herald the beginning of the main five-man show. Manoeuvre closely followed manoeuvre with one or two formation changes each time, and their path was pencilled in grey smoke. Particularly interesting were the smoking roll from card-five into box and the smoking loop in line abreast. The Treble One display is unmatched for pace, timing, variety and skill.