WHITE & RED SPARKS FINAL DISPLAY
On Wednesday 27th of July 2022, the Polish Air Force aerobatic team White-Red Sparks (Biało-Czerwone Iskry) performed the final display, concluding fifty-three years of its history. The farewell ceremony was held at the 41st Training Air Base (41. Baza Lotnictwa Szkolnego) in Deblin, Poland.
Bialo Czerwone Iskry (White and Red Sparks in Polish) was one of two military aerobatic demonstration teams of the Polish Air Force. Originally formed in 1969 at the 60th Training Wing in Radom under the name Rombik, the team flew four TS-11 Iskras. The team grew to nine pilots between 1993 and 1998 and was rebased to the 1st Air Training Centre in Deblin.
The first aerobatic display team of the Polish Air Force was formed on February 16th, 1969, at the Radom Air Base. This team was called “Rombik” (diminutive of rhombus) and flew four Polish-built PZL TS-11 Iskra (Spark), jet trainers. Along with one spare pilot, the team also had two solo pilots who only flew in solo displays. The first public display of the Rombik aerobatic team took place on August 17th, 1971, during the Polish Air Force Day airshow in Deblin. During this early period, the team rarely performed and the team's aircraft did not have any special colour scheme. In 1981, the “Rombik” team was disbanded during the tense situation in Poland.
In 1989, the team was reborn this time unofficially named “Iskry” (Sparks) and began performing with seven TS-11 Iskra trainers. In 1991, their aircraft received the white and red colour scheme and made their public debut under this name at the Poznan airshow. Later on August 8th, the team made its foreign debut by visiting Hungary and then on September 7th by performing in Belgium.
On May 3rd, 1993 the team grew to nine aircraft plus one solo pilot and in 1995 performed at the world’s biggest military airshow the Royal International Air Tattoo.
In 1998, the team was re-organized once again and reduced to eight aircraft with two being solo pilots. On November 11th, 1998, a fatal crash interrupted the team's existence for two years. The crash happened when one of the team's planes had simply taken off to check the weather conditions, in preparation for the team's upcoming fly-over of the Warsaw parade. On June 17th, 2000, the team moved to Deblin and became part of the 1st Flying Training Center. At this time the team’s name was also changed to “Bialo Czerwone Iskry” (White & Red Sparks) and reduced to seven aircraft with one solo. Since then the team displayed all over Europe with a different number of aircraft. The last official flight of the White-Red Sparks aerobatic team took place on the 28th of July 2022, at the 41st Air Training Base.
