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Le Temps des Hélices is the most important French historical airshow, and one of the most important in Europe. It is organised every year by Amicale Jean Baptiste Salis during the Pentecost weekend on Cerny-La Ferté Alais aerodrome, about 40 km south of Paris.
It focuses mainly on historical aircraft, especially ones restored or built as replicas by the 2 museums based on the airportIl focus è ovviamente sugli aerei storici, in particolare quelli restaurati/ricreati come repliche dai 2 musei presenti nell’aeroporto (Musée Volant Salis and Memorial Flight), but it also features several interesting “outsider” aircraft.

I’ve been trying to visit it for about 20 years. Finally this year I was able to book the weekend, and I was also lucky enough to get a full weekend of sunshine!

The show was opened by Équipe Phénix, Armée de l’Air et de l’Espace’s display skydivers, who jumped from Montelimar museum’s Bronco.

The “daisy cutters”, celebrating the first years of flight: replicas of the Blériot XI-2 flown by Adolphe Pégoud (first pilot to perform a looping and the first one to become Ace by shooting down 5 enemy planes) and of the Morane H flown by Roland Garros for the first flight across the Mediterranean Sea.

World War One: reenactment of a dogfight between a replica the Red Baron Manfred von Richtofen’s Fokker Dr.I…

…and a replica of a British fighter Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a.

Below them, a replica of a Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2f night bomber.

Training and liaison planes formation: Nord 1101 Noralpha (French derivative of the Messerschmitt Bf 108)…

…Nord 3202…

…and Nord 3400 Norbarbe.

Morane-Saulnier MS.317

Salmson D7 Cri-Cri

Patrouille Aéro-Club de France, dedicated to the most ancient aeronautical institution in the world:

The jet diamond was formed by Patrouille Tranchant’s Fouga Magisters:

The propeller diamond was formed by French aerobatic champions, each of them performing a brief solo display.
Bertrand Boillot flying Pitts S-2B Special

Nicolas Ivanoff, former Red Bull Air Race participant, flying Extra NG

Aude Lemordant flying CAP 222

Catherine Manoury, current President of Aéro-Club de France, flying Extra EA-300LP

Turbulent Team, British team flying 4 Druine D.31 Turbulent French homebuilt planes.

They performed literal circus acts, such as limbo…

…hunting ballons to pop with the propeller, and hitting a bullseye on the ground with flour bags.

Wingwalker Danielle del Buono on the Stearman flown by her husband Emiliano

Patrouille de France, with a special livery on the rudder for their USA tour for the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Luftwaffe Formation with planes from the local museums: Fieseler Fi 156 Storch STOL recon and liaison plane…

…the only airworthy Junkers Ju 52 transport plane in the world (actually an “hybrid” with Junkers-built fuselage and CASA-built wings), nicknamed “Tante Ju” (“Aunt Ju”) by its crew…

…and a Pilatus P-2 Swiss trainer, which actually never served in the Luftwaffe.

They were joined by the only airworthy Messerschmitt Bf 109E in Europe (most of the flying Bf 109 are actually Spanish-built Hispano Buchons):

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX

Formation with the Messerschmitt:

EKW D.3801, Swiss license-built version of the Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 French fighter:

The most “cinematic” display of the airshow: “Tora! Tora! Tora!”, re-enactment of the Pearl Harbor attack.
2 Stearman biplanes take off for a training flight…

…when a formation of Japanes planes (actually all T-6 Texans) fills the sky…

…and then dive on the airfield!

The flak tries to react, but it is too late.

A Mitsubishi Zero (actually a modified Texan) engages enemy fighters.

Display by a Douglas DC-3…

…and a Douglas C-53 Skytrooper, troop transport variant of the DC-3/C-47, which carried paratroopers from Section Technique de l’Armée de Terre:

The only airworthy Avro Anson Mk.I trainer and coastal patrol plane.

Caudron formation with a Caudron C.109 replica…

…and an original Caudron C.270.

To remember Caudron’s acquisition by Renault, a Caudron C.460 Rafale racer replica made its airshow debut.

Meanwhile, historical race cars by Renault paraded on the ground.

The Rafale then returned above the airport in formation with another Rafale: the Dassault fighter from the Rafale Solo Display!

Aggressive display by a ATR 72-600:

Aerobatic display by Denis Hartmann flying a Pilatus B4-PC11 glider:

SOCATA Rallye glider tug:

First public display by “Les Casques Rouges” team flying SOCATA TB30 Epsilon primary trainers, former Armée de l’Air et de l’Espace planes which also flew them for the “Cartouche Doré” display team, of which one of the planes still carries the livery:

“Good morning, Vietnam!”, re-enactment of the South-East Asia conflict with 2 T-28 Trojans…

…and Musée Européen de l’Aviation de Chasse’s OV-10 Bronco, which unfortunately suffered a belly landing few days ago at an airshow in Poland. Luckily, the pilot escaped unharmed.

Remembering helicopter ops, a flight by an Ècureuil, which was actually developed after the war.

Closing the event, a balbo with Stampe, Bucker, Stearman and Pitts biplanes, with a Bucker Jungmann performing a solo display beforehand:

Displays are held in the afternoon. During the morning it is possible to visit the static display (where most of the planes on display will fly in the afternoon) and… fly on historical planes!

It was possible to fly on the Douglas C-53, on the Stearmans, on the Texans, on this Travel Air 4000 biplane…

…and even on this P-51D Mustang converted in a TF-51D two-seater!

This Stearman was actually a visitor, but I deemed it interesting due to the missing engine cowling:

Finally, the static display.
Certainly the most notable exhibit was the Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress “Pink Lady”, not airworthy anymore and undergoing a lengthy restoration.

Purchasing a separate ticket, it was possible to visit it, with re-enacters in period costumes simulating a briefing. Target for today: Fürtenfeldbruck airport!

One of the 13 M2 Browing machineguns used for self-defense. This one is on the left side of the fuselage.

Radio operator station, who was also armed with a machinegun on the ceiling.

Cockpit, the only heated area of the plane. Obviously, pilot and co-pilot were the only crew members not armed with defensive machineguns.

Navigator and bombardier stations. The navigator had its chart on the table on the left, and manned the 2 visible machineguns for self-defense. The bombardier seated in the nose and used the Norden bombsight, which employed optic systems and a mechanical computer to spot the target, calculate ground speed and wind speed, and fly the plane by autopilot to the bomb release point. The system was so secret that the bombardier had to destroy it in case of crash landing, even though at the time the plans had already been stolen by a German spy. The bombardier also had to man a chin turret for self-defense.

By purchasing another ticket, it was possible to visit also the “Tante Ju”:

A wingview you can get only at this show: you look out of the window of a “Tante Ju”, and you see a C-53 ready for takeoff!

DeHavilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide undergoing restoration. It was announced for display at this year’s show, but some work still needs to be done.

Morane-Saulnier MS.502 Criquet, French license-built version of the Storch re-engined with a radial engine.

Piper L-4 Grasshopper, military liaison version of the ubiquitous J-3 Cub.

Non-flying Blériot XI mock-up built according to original plans.

Polikarpov Po-2, Soviet light bombers and recon plane made famous by the “Night Witches”, a women pilot squadron who performed night attacks on German positions.

Bristol F-2B Fighter replica

Fokker D.VII replica

Tiger Moth-based Albatross C.II replica

Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter replica

Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a replica

Morane-Saulnier MS-60 Moth, French license-built version of the DeHavilland DH.60 Moth, the first plane of the successful Moth family.

Stinson SR-10 Reliant

Naval Aircraft Factory N3N

Morane-Saulnier MS-733 Alcyon

SIPA S.903

Focke-Achgelis Fa 330, a rotokite towed by some U-Boot versions to improve spotting range (the conning tower was so low that typical spotting range was about 10 km). Clever? Well, not much: if an enemy airplane was spotted, the submarine had to crash dive. The pilot could choose between gliding in autorotation, or jettisoning the blades and descending under a parachute. In both cases, he would have been left stranded in the ocean.