The Breitling Jet Team

From France, and consisting of seven performing L-39 Albatross aircraft and an eighth that acts as a photography/videography chase plane, The Breitling Jet Demonstration team is the largest privately owned jet aerobatic team in the world.

The team is mostly composed of former French military pilots.

The L-39 Albatross, made by Czech manufacturer Aero Vochodny is a former Warsaw Pact jet trainer, with more than 2,800 being produced and it is still in use today and a new variant has been announced to be produced.

The team took off and then entered into a unique initial formation - flying with the MiG 17, and this was announced as the only time the Breitling team would fly with a MiG 17.

After flying with the MIG it was time for their own show.

First there was some tight formation flying.

Each formation maneuver they perform is named after a watch in the Breitling line.

Then they performed some dynamic aerobatics:

Complete with a low level pass:

Lots of cool aerobatic skill was on display by this team. This is part of the first tour the Breitling Jet Team has done in North America, and hopefully in the future they will visit again.

Some Fine Jets At The Show

Thunder Over Michigan had quite a few privately owned jet warbirds in all their glory on the field.

More on some of the jet stars later, but I really wanted to Czech a few out:

No, that's not another A-4 Skyhawk.

It's an L-39 Albatross.

A Czech advanced jet trainer, it was the mainstay of the Warsaw Pact Air Forces trainer fleets.

She's quite the beauty of a plane.

A two-seater with a top speed of 466 mph, a range of 683 miles without external tanks and 1,087, miles with externals and a service ceiling of 36,000 feet, she'd be my pick for a jet trainer warbird.  These birds are quite available at the moment and while out of my price range are relatively affordable.One day I'll get a pilot's license, build up time and one of these shall be mine.

The L-39s little brother was also present at the show - The L-29 Delfin.

Designed in the late 1950s as a jet trainer, the L-29 was a very effective 2-seat jet trainer.

With the L-29 having a top speed of 407 mph,  555 mile range, and service ceiling of 36,100 feet, grass field capability and currently going for much cheaper than the L-39s, she'd do nicely as well.

Unfortunately, neither the L-39 nor the L-29 performed during the show, but they sure were nice to look at and dream about.