BASTILLE DAY AIR PARADE: BEHIND THE SCENES

Bastille Day Air Parade Champs-Elysées, Paris.

On July 14, 2018, France celebrated its national day (Bastille Day), an event that traditionally culminated in a large air parade over the Champs-Elysées in Paris.

This year's parade featured 64 aircraft: 53 from the French Air Force, six from the French Navy, two from the French Civil Security Force, and three foreign aircraft.

The flyover aims to showcase the capabilities of the Air Force, Navy, and Civil Protection, including defense of French territory, force projection, intelligence, emergency rescue, and training.

As every year, foreign aircraft also took part in the parade: a Royal Singapore Air Force M346, a Belgian Air Force Alpha Jet, and a German Air Force A400M.

The formations flew at 1,000 ft AGL (300 meters) with different speeds. The fighter jets flew at 300 knots (550 km/h), the Naval jets at 280 knots (520 km/h), the Maritime Patrol Aircraft at 200 knots (370 km/h), the transport aircraft at 180 knots (330 km/h). The whole parade was about 50 kilometers long with distance between the various formations of about 6 kilometers, while each aircraft was 6-10 meters from the other.

In addition to the planes, thirty helicopters flew over the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, eighteen from the Aviation Légère de l'Armée de Terre (ALAT, French Army Aviation), five from the Armée de L'Air (AdLA, French Air Force), two from the Marine Nationale (French Naval Aviation), three from the National Gendarmerie and two from Civil Security.

They flew at about 400 feet AGL (120 meters), with a speed of 90 knots (170 km/h). The line up of helicopters was some eight kilometers long with distances between formation blocks of about 1 kilometer. The distance between the helicopters was five to ten meters.

Here is a selection of images taken behind the scenes of the air parade.

Written by Matteo Sanzani