From 17 March to 6 May 2017, 31 years after its first tour of North America, the Patrouille de France aerobatics team crossed the Atlantic on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the US entry into World War I. The transatlantic trip was carried out in four stages in order to encompass necessary refuelling stops in Scotland, Iceland, Greenland and Canada. The month-and-a-half-long tour involved thirty flights from the East Coast to the West, twelve in-flight demonstrations at commemorative functions and air shows, two encounters with legendary US display teams, the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels, and nine flypasts at monuments and locations with a symbolic meaning for Franco-US relations such as the Statue of Liberty in New York. The high point of the tour was the Patrouille de France’s participation in the ceremony held at Kansas City on 6 April to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the US entry into the war, which symbolised the lasting friendship and the unbroken historic fraternity that binds the two countries. Built by Dassault-Breguet and Dornier, the Franco-German Alpha Jet is a twin-engine trainer aircraft with a tandem two-seat configuration that is easy and safe to fly. Its design is as light and simple as possible. In 1981, the performance and reliability of the Alpha Jet made it a natural replacement for the Fouga Magisters used by the Patrouille de France, the aerobatic display team of the French Air Force. With its excellent flight characteristics and the absence of dangerous responses during spins, stalls or transonic flight, it is ideally suited for aerobatic displays. A total of 512 Alpha Jets were produced, of which 329 were exported. They are in service with the air forces of ten countries.
For more detailed information about the Alpha Jet, visit the official Dassault Aviation website at https://www.dassault-aviation.com/en/passion/aircraft/military-dassault-aircraft/alpha-jet/