This year the Hungarian Defence Forces organised the International Aviation Day and Military Technology Demonstration at Kecskemét Air Base, after an absence of eight years from the airshow calendar.
Kecskemét Air Base is situated 90 kilometers from the Hungarian Capital City Budapest and it has been the chosen base for the show for a number of years. The Base has gone through improvements under NATO’s Security Investment Programme and Hungary’s Modern Cities scheme.
The Show is synonymous with attracting a wide variety of interesting aircraft types and the 2021 edition is no exception with the participation of twelve nations that included a Soviet-era fighter, the MiG-21MF Lancer C from neighbouring Romania, and for the first time in Hungary the Saudi Hawks Display Team.
The largest contributor to the show was the Hungarian Defence forces where they proudly demonstrated all their air assets including the return of the iconic Mi-24 “Hind” attack helicopter after 12 airframes were overhauled in Russia in 2018.
The flying display was held over the airbase with 9 hours of demonstrations by military solo display aircraft and demo teams, it also saw the participation of civilian aircraft from the Swedish Airforce Historic Flight and the Goldtimer Foundation with their Lisunov Li-2T.
An interesting participant for the first time in a Hungarian airshow circuit was an Embraer KC-390 of the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer which presented a very dynamic demo during the show. The Hungarian Air Force is set to be the first KC-390 operator in Europe with the delivery of the first aircraft planned for 2023.
Joseph Borg one of the members of Horizon was in Kecskemét during the days of the event and this is what he saw through his lens.
