TALONS OVER CORDOBA REPORT BY HEAVENLY PURSUITS
Attracting over 270,000 visitors during the week of flying the seventh ‘Talons over Cordoba Contest’ has been another big success. Once again this international event is a chance for the best pilots in the world to show off their skills allied with the best fighters available and it is now the world’s foremost fighter exhibition. Air forces from across the world fly and compete to be the best while showing off their latest fighters and comparing them against the best available elsewhere.
The exhibition display area once again attracted many companies eager to make sales. FMA (Fabrica Militar de Aviones) had a huge exhibition shed and were flying the I.Ae6T trainer, the huge four-engined FMA I.Ae 7 airliner made several flypasts during the event and impressively three I-02 prototypes flew the opening display and at least one flew every day of the event, the stand had a static I-02 painted in Atlantean colours and a full-size mock up of the carrier variant. Lieutenant de Aero Roja between events flew several I-02 test flights at the event and on the final day flew a thrilling display in the aircraft. It is rumoured that he reached 660kmh during a recent high-speed trial. IMPA (Compania Industria Metalurgica & Plastica S.A.) brought a Vanquish III bomber and Tucan the T-18B NB-2 private-venture dive-bomber. Grumman was displaying a F4F carrier-fighter, Curtiss showed off their P-40, Boeing had a static B-17E, Douglas an A-20 light bomber, and Vought brought an XF4U. Martin’s stand included a B-26A model. The German exhibitors included Dornier with a Do-215 and a Do-217 model, Focke-Wulf with an Fw-190 and an Fw-205 Condor, BFW with a Bf-109T carrier fighter and Junkers with the Ju-88. From Britain Supermarine were displaying a Spitfire, Hawker brought along a Typhoon and Boulton Paul were advertising their new P.94 export fighter and extensively flying the Irish P.94 between events. Gloster had a Gloster Gunner twin-engined fighter on display. From more local places TNCA and ENAER both had extensive stands and from Atlantis both Spartan and Accrisius brought a dozen aircraft between them. From Japan Mitsubishi, Kanzaki, and Nakajima were all represented. The South African team also brought along a F-6F two-seat fighter trainer for joy rides for the public and potential customers.
The Chilean Navy’s airship Capitan Pratt also called in at Cordoba on the opening day to mark the final destination of its recent month-long tour of the Americas.
As usual the best fighter pilots in the Fuerza Aerea Argentina made a spectacular aerial aerobatic display every day of the contest in their FMA I-01-II Buchon fighters.
All contesting pilots have been assigned numbers in the order of application and nationality has not been a factor in the order given.
No 1 Lieutenant de Aero Roja [Holder of the Argentine Nation to the Valour in Combat Medal (Medalla La Nacion Argentina al Valor en Combate) and the Order of the Liberator General San Martin (Orden del Libertador General San Martin) Comendador Grade] is on special leave from his current work with FMA and is flying his personal red and black FMA I-01-II Buchon fighter with a standard 1,300hp Spartan 1300S V-12 inline engine
No 2 Maj. General Agustin Verona [holder of Argentine to the Wounded in Combat Medal (Medalla La Nacion Argentina al Herido en Combate)], commander Aerea Regimenta No 2 at Military Air Base Bahia Blanca with eleven wartime kills, is flying his personal silver-coloured FMA I-01-II Buchon fighter with a standard 1,300hp Spartan 1300S V-12 inline engine
No 3 Group Captain Lionel Mandrake returns again this year flying the eleventh production Supermarine Spitfire Mk II with a 1,100hp Merlin V-12 engine
No 4 Flying Officer T.B “Septic” McGowan is a newcomer flying the twenty-fifth production Hawker Tornado powered by a 1,980hp RR Vulture II 24-cylinder engine
No 5 Capitan Tateo Kato is a newcomer to Talons and is representing Japan flying a standard production Kanzaki Ki-34 Fukurou powered by a 1,200hp KHI-103 V-12 in a polished natural-metal finish
No 6 First Lieutenant Mitsugu Sawada and gunner Second Lieutenant Toyoki Eto are also representing Japan this year in the brand-new and advanced Nakajima Ki-42 twin-engined fighter powered by two 1,400hp KHI-107 V-12 engines with annular radiators
No 7 Wing Commander Michel Endress, bearer of the Knight’s Cross to the Military Order of the Empires Greatest Defenders, bearer of the Nkwe ya Gauta (Golden Leopard - South Africa's highest military decoration) and four time recipient of the Combat Medal; the leading South African fighter pilot, who achieved 49 confirmed victories in air combat and destroyed innumerable targets on the ground is representing the SAE again this year (he was last year’s champion). He is flying his new personal JFM F-6E, “Lady Valentine” named after his wife
No 8 Wing Commander Jeoren van Veen, Companion of the Distinguished Service Order, bearer of the Nkwe ya Selefera (Silver Leopard), bearer of the iPhrothiya yeBhronzi (Bronze Protea) and two time recipient of the Combat Medal who achieved 27 confirmed victories in combat is also representing the SAE again this year flying a 1937 production Walter F-8C fighter named “Lucky Shot II”
No 9 Captain Andreas Schrieber returns to this year to represent Denmark and is flying a production DAF(s)4v2 Falcon II twin-boom fighter with a production 1,400hp Hispano-Suiza V-12 engine
No 10 Lt. Bo Qvist also returns for Denmark and is also flying a production DAF(s)4v2 Falcon II
No 11 Capt. José María Bravo Fernandez-Hermosa, senior instructor at the Ejército del Aire's Advanced Air Combat School returns this year flying a standard yellow He-112I
No 12 Capt. Fernando Sanchez-Arjona Courtoy, senior test pilot at the Ejército del Aire's flight testing squadron also returns this year for Iberia flying a red He-112I
No 13 Colonel Fabris "Jester" Lavidicus, the commander of the Atlantean Air Force adversary training squadron, returns yet again to represent Atlantis and this year he is flying a production Spartan SP-35 "Viper" in an all-over black scheme
No 14 Lt. Colonel Tyrus "Bulldog" Hadrian returns to Talon’s flying a production Spartan SP-35 "Viper" in an all-red scheme with a rampant bull on the fuselage sides, having been the lead Sp-35 test pilot he is well acquainted with the type
No 15 Yarbay (Lieutenant Colonel, squadron commander) Sabiha Gökçen returns to Talons yet again representing Turkey and is flying a Heinkel He 112 fighter
No 16 Vecihi Hürku is aslo representing Turkey flying a standard He-112
No 17 Captain Kenan Sunay representing the Republic of Byzantium is flying a production Spartan SP-20A2 "Corsair II"
No 18 Flight Lieutenant Nurettin Tural representing the Republic of Byzantium again this year and is flying the same red and gold twin-engined Spartan SP-34 “Cutlass” heavy fighter-bomber as last year
No 19 Major Henry Pillichody, representing Colombia again this year, is flying a white and blue Ripon-Bloch RB.132 "Renegade II" fighter
No 20 Teniente Delfín Torres Duran is flying another production Ripon-Bloch RB.132 "Renegade II" fighter this year painted red
No 21 Flugkapitan Werner Molders returns this year flying a gloss-white Heinkel He-100 B-2 powered by a DB-601EM V-12 engine
No 22 Fluglieutenant Adolph Galland returns to Talons this year representing Germany and is flying a gloss-black Heinkel He-100 B-2 identical to Molders’ aircraft
No 23 Captain Bart Hawk, newly promoted he returns to Talons this year in a refined Curtiss P-42D fighter
No 24 Lt. Leigh Wade is a newcomer to Talons and is flying a newcomer, the impressive twin-boom Lockheed P-38 fighter powered by two Alison V-12s
No 25 Teniente Carlos Matta, who scored three ‘kills’ in the recent war with Peru, is representing Chile as a Fuerza Aérea de Chile (FACh) officer and is flying a ENAER-built I-01 IIB named "Laura Fiora" for his wife; the underside is painted light blue while the fuselage and upper wings are painted in a leopard-pelt pattern of orange, yellow, brown and black
No 26 Teniente Capitan Patricio Mistral is once again representing the Armada de Chile Arma Aérea (Chilean Navy Air Arm) and is flying an FMA I-01N Buchon carrier fighter named "Southern Cross". Mistral flew combat missions during the Andean War as well as the Peruvian War, scoring one aerial kill in each war. Mistral's I-01N Buchon is painted black, with a red propeller spinner, red wingtips, and a red tail; a white southern cross is emblazoned on the fighter's nose and on the upper side of the wings.
No 27 Kapitan Dobri Kolarov is representing Bulgaria for the first time and is flying one of the new DAR-12 /Avia B.137 fighters painted dark green with a red and yellow pinstripe down the sides and red-tipped wings. His personal call-sign is "Fokser Five" (Foxhound Five).
No 28 Porucik (Senior Lieutenant) Lidiya Ivanova returns to Talons yet again and will be flying one of the latest Supermarine Spitfire MkIIs delivered to Bulgaria. Ivanova has served as a mercenary pilot in two different campaigns, scoring one kill and one probable while flying a Romanian IAR-80 fighter for the Armenian Air Force, and claiming six air kills (all Bolivian Communist Fiat Cr.32s) and several ground kills while flying a Swiss EKW D-3801 fighter named "Charity" for the Flying Legion in Bolivia. Her personal call sign is "Ubiets Kerkenez" (Killer Kestral).
No 29 Flying Lieutenant Eoin Clancy returns to Talons and is representing Ireland in a new Boulton Paul Resistant (P94 Defiant). His fighter, named "Oopsie Daisy", is painted in RAF-style camouflage albeit with the Irish roundel, and a green port wingtip and an orange starboard wingtip.
No 30 Lt. Col Tyrus Cassius McQueen returns to represent Canada for the third time and is flying a diminutive Avro Canada CF-8 "Rhamphorhynchus" scout fighter powered by an Orenda Merlin V-12.
No 31 Cmdr. Reginald Antilles also returns this year flying the brand-new twin-engined Burnelli Aviation YCF-38 "Skipray" fighter
No 32 Capitan Valenzuela returns this year to Talons for Mexico and he is flying an al-white C-11 Aguilla III
No 33 Captain Juan Solitario, a former member of the Mexican Volunteer Squadron in Argentina, is representing Mexico again this year, flying a production C-15+ (GW 105Mx) fighter
No 34 Capitan Peters, returns for Australia and is flying another AA-5 Kelpie powered by two Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 engines
No 35 Capitan Robert Henry Maxwell (Bobby) Gibbes, returns flying the a CAC-11 Strix powered by a Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp radial
No 36 Lt. Liu Chui-Kang returns for China this year flying a black painted He-112
No 37 Lt. Zhu Jia-Xun also returns this year for China flying a dark blue painted production E.W.I.L. EW-205C fighter powered by a 1,500hp GWM V-1500 V-12 engine
No 38 Capt Ricco returns to Talons once again, as Italy’s lone pilot, and is flying a bright-red Macchi C.202 Serie I fighter practically identical to last year’s plane
No 39 Flight Lieutenant Ronnie Hellström, Talons stalwart Hellström once again returns, this time flying a yellow-painted production model SAAB F-21 Mark I twin-boom fighter powered by a 1,450hp SAAB X75-1450 inline engine in a pusher configuration
No 40 Wing Commander Otto Larsen is representing Nordmark again this year flying a blue SAAB F-21 Mark I twin-boom fighter
No 41 José Gálvez is representing Peru for the first time flying a standard ex-RAF Hawker Hurricane Mk II
No 42 Jorge Chavez is also representing Peru for the first time and also flying a Hawker Hurricane Mk II
No 43 Franciszek Jastrzebski is representing Poland flying a PZL P.11d painted red and white
No 44 Jan Pavel Falkowski is also representing Poland flying a standard production PZL P.50 fighter painted white overall
No 45 Lieutenant Anton Dunceau, who made headline news in Romania in 1937 by flying his aircraft to visit his lady friend in Transylvania unauthorized, is representing Romania this year flying a standard IAR 80A powered by a Gnome-Rhone K14 radial
No 46 Lieutenant Cosmin Manolescu is also representing Romania and was the fastest pilot in the Great Air Race in 1935 between Bulgarian and Romanian pilots. He too is flying an IAR 80A.
No 47 Kapitán Josef František returns for Czechoslovakia flying a blue, white and red Fokker-Avia B-137 fighter which is the twenty-fifth production airframe powered by a 1,100hp Minerva-Avia 105 V-12 inline engine
No 48 Capitan Maurice Huber returns to represent Switzerland flying a production EKW D-3801 with a 1,050hp Hispano-Suiza 12Y51 engine and painted in a fetching red and white scheme Swiss flag scheme
GROUPS
The groups are divided between single-engined and twin-engined fighters. Group 8 is solely for twin-engined fighters.
Group 1 Numbers 1, 9, 16, 25, 33, 41 (Roja, Schrieber, Hürku, Matta, Solitario, Galvez)
Group 2 Numbers 2, 10, 17, 26, 35, 42 (Verona, Qvist, Sunay, Mistral, Gibbes, Chavez)
Group 3 Numbers 3, 11, 19, 27, 36, 43 (Mandrake, Capt. José Fernandez-Hermosa, Pillichody, Kolarov, Chui-Kang, Jastrzebski)
Group 4 Numbers 4, 12, 20, 28, 37, 44 (McGowan, Lt. Fernando Courtoy, Duran, Ivanova, Jia-Xun, Falkowski)
Group 5 Numbers 5, 13, 21, 29, 38, 45 (Kato, Lavidicus, Molders, Clancy, Ricco, Dunceau)
Group 6 Numbers 7, 14, 22, 30, 39, 47 (Endress, Hadrian, Galland, McQueen, Hellström, František)
Group 7 Numbers 8, 15, 23, 32, 46, 48 (van Veen, Gökçen, Hawk, Valenzuela, Manolescu, Huber)
Group 8 Numbers 6, 18, 24, 31, 34, 40 (Sawada & Eto, Tural, Wade, Antilles, Peters, Larsen)
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Originally posted by Hrolf Hakonson
Tuesday, July 2nd 2024, 4:35pm
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