Earlier this year I received an invitation to join Jimmy De Koning – an Air Traffic Controller at the Maastricht Upper Area Control Center – to visit his flying club, Seagull Formation and see what makes it so unique.
Seagull Formation, based at Hoogeveen airport in the northeast of the Netherlands, was founded in 1986 by former military pilots. At the beginning they flew Cessna 172-s, Morane Rallys and the Slingsby. In 1989 they received their first Focke-Wulf Piaggio 149D and throughout the years the number of the type increased to five. Following the old military tradition and classic training module of formation flying using this classic aircraft the founders of Seagull Formation created a display team which participates every year at several national and international air shows. The team demonstrates a number of training and combat maneuvers of the past to give an impression of how this aircraft was used by air force training personnel in the 50-s and 60-s.
The PFW 149D has its roots in post-war Italy and was produced by the same company that had great success with the Vespa motorbikes. Based on the earlier P148 (a 2-seater) designed by Giovanni P. Casiraghi the P149 – a 4-seater which first flew in June 1953- competed with other training aircraft like the Saab Safir and the Beech Mentor.
In 1955 the newly formed Luftwaffe selected the Piaggio as training and liaison aircraft after a competition air show. The Italian
aircraft was selected despite of the fact that after a brilliant demonstration, in the heat of the moment the pilot of the I-PIAF forgot to lower the landing gear and performed a well-executed belly landing. Only the propeller had to be replaced and remarkably the aircraft flew again the next day to prove its sturdiness. The type ordered by the Luftwaffe was called the P149D.
Initially 75 aircraft were built in Genova by Piaggio, followed by another 190 aircraft produced under license by Focke-Wulf in Bremen. This type was called the PFW149D.
The first types were equipped by a Lycoming engine but later BMW received permission to produce the 274 HP engine in Munich.
All five aircraft of the club are German registered and fly in original colour scheme. They are maintained by the club’s own technicians whose wide technical knowledge is crucial in operating a fleet of more than 40 year old aircraft.
We arrived at Hoogeveen airfield, the home base of the Seagull Formation on a misty Saturday morning in March. I was introduced to the members of the club and joined them for the flight preparations. I wouldn’t have bet money on any flying activity on that day but the pilots who gathered in the crew room were more optimistic. I guess you have to be, if you want to fly in the Netherlands… I was surprised to see gliders taking off at a ceiling not more than 2000 feet and rather limited horizontal visibility.
I joined Jimmy in the hangar for a lengthy inspection of his aircraft D-EERP. We started at the left wing and proceeded clockwise checking wings, gear, fuselage and power plant as dictated by the “exterior inspection” checklist. After all the checks and tanking up we gathered for a briefing which was given by Theo van Gaalen one of the original founders of the club and the flight leader of the Seagull formation. Theo “Lipstick” van Gaalen flew as a fighter pilot in the Koninklijke Luchtmacht on Gloster Meteors and Hawker Hunters. He also worked as an ATCO at Amsterdam ACC until 1992. Among other types he also flew the Dutch Spitfire at air shows.
By this time the fifth aircraft, arrived as well from its Lelystad base. I got the permission to join Jimmy in his D-EERP as “Seagull 3” for an exercise I was very much looking forward to, since I have never seen formation flying from the air.
The pilots discussed all the elements of the Demo – the program they were going to perform at several air shows – meticulously. These pilots humbly call themselves enthusiastic amateurs, but it struck me immediately that this might be called a hobby but formation flying requires a great deal of military type discipline even from members without a professional military background. By the time the briefing was finished the weather improved too and the formation was ready to fly.
After take-off the formation proceeded to the “display area” in this case represented by a petrol station on the motorway descending in a tight arrow formation. Usually this maneuver starts at 3000 feet and the formation descends to 400 feet but when practicing, they take 1000 feet “hard deck” as they call it so we came out of the descent at 1400 feet. All elements in front of the crowd involve the use of smoke canisters which they did not use for the practice. At the speed of 165 knots, Seagull 5 – piloted by Hendrik “Old Sperm” den Besten, another veteran – broke off for a loop – half roll followed by a 360 degree turn.
Hendrik is probably one of the most experienced actively flying pilots in the Netherlands, (well over 24000 flight hours!) who also began his carrier as a fighter pilot in the States on P51 Mustangs and later on the F-84E Thunderjet. From the end of the 50’s he joined KLM and flew everything from DC-3-s, Constellations, and DC-8-s, retiring as a Boeing B747/300 Captain. Later on he also flew the Consolidated PBY Catalina at several air shows. The remaining four aircraft changed into a “swan” formation in the climb and turned back towards the display area approaching it at a 45° angle, passing over at 350’ and leaving the area again at 45° changing into an echelon right formation. Then we turned back again this time approaching at 90° and splitting to 2 pairs (black and yellow) and before the display center maintaining 150 kts speed black and yellow performed a cross-over break to join up at 1300/1350 feet to prepare for the opposite pass along the display line after which number 5 arrived at the display area for a so called derry turn followed by a low speed pass. In the meantime both sections joined up to form a “diamond” and came in for a final spectacular “bomb burst” run.
Descending to 1250 feet at the speed of 150 knots the leader called out “Bomb burst, bomb burst GO” and the formation broke up, 1 and 2 to the right, 3 and 4 to the left. The Seagulls practiced the demo 4 times and I must admit for me as a passenger right there, our position was not always crystal clear and I felt strangely tired when we landed…. (I found out that the maximum we encountered was just above the 4 G-s). One thing was obvious though: flying this kind of maneuvers is real hard work especially in those windy conditions! Respect!
Try to check them out at one of the air shows! It’s great fun! Until then, you can learn more about them here.
Many thanks to all the pilots and technical staff of the Seagull Formation for their hospitality.